Abstract
The use of nanoparticles for drug delivery and neural cell manipulation may soon allow for organic and electronic brain augmentations. Medical technology being used for cognitive enhancement brings a host of ethical questions related to safety, justice, privacy, and individuality. Issues concerning medical consent and intellectual property will be skewed as neuroscience expands our understanding of the brain, growing our capacity to read and modify it. Socioeconomic strata may realign based on augmentations and employment opportunities may become dependent on specific cognitive enhancements. Long-term effects of unregulated nanoparticle usage could elicit an environmental or human health disaster. The potential for large scale societal change through nanotechnology and deviance from pharmaceutical paradigms is discussed through a utilitarian lens.
Language
English
Publication Place
Tacoma, Washington
Publisher
The University of Puget Sound
Recommended Citation
Caras, Austin and DeJesus, James
(2018)
"Ethical Analysis of Brain Augmentation Through Nanotechnology,"
Sound Decisions: An Undergraduate Bioethics Journal: Vol. 4:
Iss.
1, Article 4.
Available at:
https://soundideas.pugetsound.edu/sounddecisions/vol4/iss1/4
Included in
Bioethics and Medical Ethics Commons, Cognitive Neuroscience Commons, Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience Commons