Dialogues on Human Enhancement

We  face an emerging range of technologies that can be applied to our human  natures with the goal of enhancing us. There are nootropic smart drugs  and gene editing that influence the development of the brain. The near  future promises cybernetic technologies that can be grafted onto our  brains and bodies. The challenge for readers of Dialogues on Human Enhancement is to decide how to respond to these and other coming enhancement technologies.

As  you read these dialogues you will meet passionate advocates for a  variety of responses to enhancement tech, ranging from blanket rejection  to ecstatic endorsement. You’ll encounter Olen, for whom there is no  such thing as too much enhancement. You’ll meet Winston, a  bioconservative who fiercely but also imaginatively opposes any human  enhancement. And there is the moderate Eugenie, who strives to  distinguish between enhancement technologies that should and should not  be accepted. As these characters philosophically engage with each other  they will benefit from the supervisory presence of Sophie, the  philosopher.

Dialogues on Human Enhancement does not arrive at a single conclusion. Olen’s transhumanism, Eugenie’s  moderation, and Winston’s bioconservatism are presented as viable and  necessary views as we enter a future made uncertain by human enhancement  tech.

And the book also welcomes the voices of  students, even – and especially – if they challenge the opinions of our  age’s experts. As students join the conversations in this book, they  will formulate their own views about how humanity could or should be in  our Age of Human Enhancement.