Nick Bostrom Testifies on Cognitive Enhancement for Obama BRAIN Initiative
by IEET
The Obama administration's Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues held a session on the ethical issues of cognitive enhancement, as part of the ethical, social, legal issues wing of the federal BRAIN (Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies) Initiative. IEET co-founder and author of the new bestseller SuperIntelligence, Nick Bostrom was one of four asked to testify. His comments focused on the importance of ensuring egalitarian access to and benefits from cognitive enhancement.
Nick Bostrum
There are already large inequalities in cognitive capacities partly biological, partly because different people have different amounts of education, and so forth, said Bostrom. One question that one can ask about a hypothetical new cognitive enhancement intervention is whether it would increase or decrease that. That might partly depend on the system we have to access [the enhancement]. The other speakers were:
Peter Reiner, V.M.D., Ph.D., from the University of British Columbia's National Core for Neuroethics, Kinsmen Laboratory of Neurological Research, and Brain Research Centre; Rear Admiral Peter J. Delany, Ph.D., LCSW-C, Director of the Center for Behavioral Health Statistics and Quality at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA); Adrian Raine, Ph.D., the Richard Perry University Professor of Criminology, Psychiatry, and Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania.
Starting off the conversation with a presentation titled, "Cognitive Enhancement Past, Present and Future", Reiner discussed the definition of cognitive enhancement. In doing so, he explained both the historic understanding and looked forward to how this definition is evolving.
Cognitive enhancement is more complicated than it seems at first blush, explained Reiner. We're already well on our way to enhancing ourselves with all sorts of drugs, devices and more. I'd submit as we move forward we need to give a fair hearing to the public's enthusiasms and fears, their utilitarian dreams and their visions for societal harmony for these are the norms to which our policies should hew, Reiner concluded.
Delany, who oversees a SAMHSA program to collect, analyze, and disseminate critical public health data on substance abuse, mental illness, and related disorders, spoke briefly about how common cognitive enhancement is today, and how we might be able to reliably track both the prevalence of cognitive enhancement and results both potential benefits and harmful outcomes.
Focusing on prescription drugs like Adderall and Ritalin, Delany explained that data show that people especially college age students who use cognitive enhancements also have increased use of other substances such as alcohol, marijuana or cocaine. Raine later moved the discussion to the potential implications of nutrition as a cognitive enhancer and the possible use of nutritional supplements to alter behavior. Citing extensive correlational studies about consumption of Omega-3 and a reduction in anti-social behaviors, Raine raised several ethical questions about the use of natural compounds, like fish oil, as a cognitive enhancer.
To what extent is Omega-3 really different to drugs, medication? asked Raine. Our bodies don''t produce Omega-3. Yes, it's natural, but in some ways it's nothing short of a drug. We wouldn't give drugs to sedate prisoners. We wouldn't give drugs to children to reduce their anti-social and aggressive behaviors. [Really, then why is Risperdal prescribed for children? -ED]
So why would we give Omega-3 to reduce such behaviors that aren't wanted in society? asked Raine. Up next in this busy day, the Bioethics Commission will consider questions around direct-to-consumer neurotechnology.
[Note: Ahhh, another 'connect the dots'! Federal 'bioethic, IEET, Nick Bostrum, transhumanism/futurism/posthumanism/technoprogressism, NBIC/WTEC, Kurzweil, Peter Diamandis, James Hughes, George Dvorsky and non-human 'personhood', the Singularity University and Silicon Valley, Russian Transhumanist Party, Google, NASA -- and the federal 'Big Brain Project'. The article below about the Big Brain Project is not just about 'Obama'. It's about the global gurus who have been trying to teach us for the last few decades how we can transfer our 'brains into computers in 2045 and fuse with the Singularity to reach 'immortality'. Of course, as such, we will be androgenous [ https://www.amazon.com/Crossing-The-Event-Horizon-Metamorphosis/dp/147012873X]. Laugh it up. The article first appeared here.
Nick Bostrom Ph.D. is a Professor of Applied Ethics at Oxford University, and the Director of the Oxford Future of Humanity Institute. Dr. Bostrom co-founded the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies in 2005 and served as Chair of its Board of Directors until 2011. In 2011 he stepped down as Chair and was appointed as Senior Fellow. Dr. Bostrom also co-founded the World Transhumanist Association (Humanity+) in 1998 and served as Chair of its Board of Directors until 2009. Professor Bostrom is a frequent spokesperson and commentator in the media, and has consulted for the President’s Council on Bioethics (USA), the Central Intelligence Agency (USA), the European Commission, and the European Group on Ethics (Brussels), among many groups. Dr. Bostrom has a background in cosmology, computational neuroscience, mathematical logic, philosophy, and artificial intelligence, and his research addresses the philosophy of science, probability theory, and the ethical and strategic implications of emerging and future technologies. He is author of the book Anthropic Bias: Observation Selection Effects in Science and Philosophy(Routledge, New York, 2002), and has co-edited the book Global Catastrophic Risks (Oxford University Press, 2008) with Milan Cirkovic, and Human Enhancement (Oxford University Press, 2009) with Julian Savulescu. https://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/bio/bostrom/ - DNI ]