Last May Dr. Hughes and two dozen other experts on cognitive enhancement technologies convened to discuss future policy scenarios with the Advanced Concepts Group, Sandia National Laboratories and the Consortium for Science, Policy & Outcomes at Arizona State University. The policy frameworks were drawn from Dr. Hughes’ book Citizen Cyborg, laying out four principal ideological positions that policy makers might adopt -
“Laissez-faire” (techno-libertarian),
“Managed Techno-optimism” (techno-progressive),
“Managed Techno-Skepticism” (Left bioconservative) and
“Human Essentialism” (Right bioconservative). After a day discussing the various near-term cognitive enhancement technologies the group broke into these four factions - albeit for purely heuristic purposes and not because of affinity - to devise policies based on the ideological position.
The report, “Policy Implications of Technologies for Cognitive Enhancement,” is available now, and it summarizes the event, the technologies and policy discussion. A better than average introduction to the issues.
Abstract
The Advanced Concepts Group at Sandia National Laboratory and the Consortium for Science, Policy and Outcomes at Arizona State University convened a workshop in May 2006 to explore the potential policy implications of technologies that might enhance human cognitive abilities. The group’s deliberations sought to identify core values and concerns raised by the prospect of cognitive enhancement. The workshop focused on the policy implications of various prospective cognitive enhancements and on the technologies– nanotechnology, biotechnology, information technology, and cognitive science–that enable them.
The prospect of rapidly emerging technological capabilities to enhance human cognition makes urgent a daunting array of questions, tensions, ambitions, and concerns. The workshop elicited dilemmas and concerns in ten overlapping areas: science and democracy; equity and justice; freedom and control; intergenerational issues; ethics and competition; individual and community rights; speed and deliberations; ethical uncertainty; humanness; and sociocultural risk. We identified four different perspectives to encompass the diverse issues related to emergence of cognitive enhancement technologies:
• Laissez-faire – emphasizes freedom of individuals to seek and employ enhancement technologies based on their own judgment;
• Managed technological optimism – believes that while these technologies promise great benefits, such benefits cannot emerge without an active government role;
• Managed technological skepticism – views that the quality of life arises more out of society’s institutions than its technologies; and
• Human Essentialism – starts with the notion of a human essence (whether Godgiven or evolutionary in origin) that should not be modified.
While the perspectives differ significantly about both human nature and the role of government, each encompasses a belief in the value of transparency and reliable information that can allow public discussion and decisions about cognitive enhancement. The practical question is how to foster productive discussions in a society whose attention is notably fragmented and priorities notably diverse. The question of what to talk about remains central, as each of the four perspectives is concerned about different things. Perhaps the key issue for initial clarification as a condition for productive democratic discussion has to do with the intended goals of cognitive enhancement, and the mechanisms for allowing productive deliberation about these goals.
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