Much modern medical and biotechnological research is dedicated to the pursuit of human improvement -- from genetic control over our offspring, to drugs that alter mood and memory, to genes that boost human muscles, to interventions that extend the human lifespan. To understand the full significance of human enhancement, we must consider the ends for which it is intended, not just the means. That is, we must do more than discuss how these technologies will work and who will get to use them: We must also explore the deeper human aspirations these innovations aim to satisfy, and the place of biotechnology in the pursuit of the good life.

BEYOND THERAPY

Ageless Bodies, Happy Souls
The inaugural issue of EPPC's journal The New Atlantis featured an essay on human enhancement by Leon R. Kass, a University of Chicago professor and a renowned bioethicist. In that essay, Dr. Kass argues that we need to think more searchingly about what it means to be human if we are to use our new biotechnical powers wisely, and that we must beware the promise of a false perfection.

Beyond Therapy
Dr. Kass's New Atlantis essay became a central part of a major report from the President's Council on Bioethics -- of which Dr. Kass was then chairman -- released in October 2003. In that report, the Council attempted "to articulate the human goods that we seek to defend and the possible threats they may face" in the age of biotechnology. It was later published by Dana Press as a book.

Biotechnology and the Good Life
In response to the publication of Beyond Therapy, EPPC's journal The New Atlantis commissioned five authors to reflect on the Council's report -- the questions it asks, the dilemmas it raises, and the choices it sets before us:

• Science and Self-Government
  Wilfred McClay on why biotechnology is not a subject for experts alone, and why the greatest challenge in the years ahead may be "choosing limits."
• A More Child-Like Science
  Steve Talbott on the uses of biotechnology to produce "better children," and how the wonder of the child may in fact redeem science.
• Man or Machine?
  Charles Rubin on the quest for "superior performance," and why human excellence is different from making ourselves into well-bred animals or well-crafted machines.
• Methuselah and Us
  Diana Schaub on the pursuit of "ageless bodies," and whether living longer will change what it means to live well.
• Restless Souls
  Peter Lawler on the dream of "happy souls," and why many worries about the Brave New World are misguided.

ENHANCEMENT AND SPORTS

The Price of Winning at Any Cost
As the Super Bowl comes around again, some of us will find ourselves perplexed: What sort of human activity are we watching and why? And who are these supersize combatants on our screens? Eric Cohen and Leon Kass on sports, steroids, and the age of biotechnology. [Washington Post, 1 February 2004, p. B05.]

Our Asterisked Heroes
The mythic asterisk next to Roger Maris’s record of 61 home runs in a single baseball season is a symbol of attenuated heroism. In modern times, the rise of performance-enhancing drugs and the prospect of genetic improvements force us to question the authenticity of our greatest achievements—in athletics and beyond. Douglas Kern considers the future of human excellence in the age of artificial enhancement. [The New Atlantis, Number 6, Summer 2004, pp. 65-74.]

Doping for Seconds
The Editors of The New Atlantis discuss the shadow of drugs on American athletics. [The New Atlantis, Number 6, Summer 2004, pp. 124-125.]

MORE FROM THE NEW ATLANTIS

The Age of Neuroelectronics
The potential merging of mind and machine thrills, frightens, and intrigues us. For decades, experiments at the border between brains and electronics have led to sensationalistic media coverage, vivid science fiction portrayals, and dreams of cyborgs and bionic men. But recently, this area of science has seen remarkable advances—from robotic limbs controlled directly by brain activity, to brain implants that alter the mood of the depressed, to rats steered by remote control. Adam Keiper explores the peculiar history and present directions of this research, and considers the challenges of staying human in the age of neuroelectronics. [The New Atlantis, Number 11, Winter 2006, pp. 4-41.]

The Rhetoric of Extinction
The advance of modern technology has long inspired visions of a more perfect future, especially when the object of innovation is man himself. Today, advocates of "transhumanism" look forward with impatient enthusiasm toward a time when they will transcend their limited senses, finite minds, and mortal lives. Charles T. Rubin reviews four recent books on human enhancement and finds they all employ a style of argument that avoids deep questions and embraces shallow optimism. [The New Atlantis, Number 11, Winter 2006, pp. 64-73.]

Human Growth Hormone and the Measure of Man
With the FDA's recent approval of marketing Human Growth Hormone to short but healthy children, America has now made shortness a disease. Given the many social disadvantages faced by short people, one can understand the drive to become more "normal." But as Dov Fox argues, this normality comes with a human cost: the inability to welcome those who are different and the false belief that we can be the sole masters of our fate. [The New Atlantis, Number 7, Fall 2004/Winter 2005, pp. 75-87.]

Artificial Intelligence and Human Nature
Some of the smartest people in artificial intelligence want to make human beings extinct—by replacing the body with an unlimited life of networked intelligence. Charles Rubin takes a critical look at this "extinctionist project" -- what it is, what it means, and where it is heading. [The New Atlantis, Number 1, Spring 2003, pp. 88-100.]

TRANSCRIPT

Debating Human Enhancement
In August 2005, Bioethics and American Democracy program director Eric Cohen particpated in a panel discussion on the subject of human enhancement sponsored by Reason magazine. "The question is whether the things that seem like enhancements really are enhancements," he said. "The disquiet that some people have with the biotech revolution is due to our worry that in trying to make life better in ways we recognize, we're going to make it worse in ways we can't even imagine."