Rethinking Human Enhancement

About this book

This book provides an overview of the new and emergent technologies that are and will continue to play a central role in the future of human enhancement. These technologies - including nanotechnology, neurotechnology, information technology, robotics and artificial intelligence - not only have unique capabilities, but have also instantiated separate ethical domains. This book discusses three possible human enhancement paradigms - the biomedical, the transhumanist and the social - and explores how each paradigm involves different values and different uses of technology. It also investigates the different degrees and kinds of ethical issues instantiated by each of these human enhancement paradigms. A framework to prioritise these human enhancement paradigms is advanced, a framework that promotes technological innovation that serves the improvement of the human condition in a respectful and sustainable way. More importantly, this is a framework that ensures that not only certain groups of individuals enjoy the benefits of technological innovation. Includes a foreword from Professor Steve Fuller, Auguste Comte Professor of Social Epistemology, University of Warwick, UK.