Fooling Mother Nature. An Ethical Analysis of and Recommendations for Oversight of Human-Performance Enhancements in the Armed Forces

Abstract

This article analyzes several philosophical arguments against the use of human-performance enhancements and then applies analogies to the military setting. We conclude by advocating the establishment of procedures in the armed forces for ethical oversight of the development and utilization of these technologies. The implementation of this recommendation in imperative because the commercial inducements for performance enhancers, as well as the increasing scientific sophistication of other nations, make their emergence inescapable. Sine the capabilities will become available, the systems necessary to analyze their implications and plan their appropriate implementation must be created before their use is upon us. We need to relearn the lesson of Hiroshima-don't develop deadly, world-altering technologies in a moral and ethical vacuum.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jul 01, 1997
Accession Number
ADA542339

Entities

People

  • Evan G. Derenzo
  • Richard Szafranski

Organizations

  • Air University

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Human Systems

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Power
  • Army Rangers
  • Biomedical Research
  • Biotechnology
  • Blood
  • Blood Cells
  • Boundaries
  • Caffeine
  • Contact Lenses
  • Genetic Engineering
  • Heart Rate
  • Information Operations
  • Language
  • Motor Skills
  • Neural Networks
  • New York
  • Warfare

Readers

  • Defense Acquisition Program Management
  • Military History of the United States in the 20th Century.
  • Systems Analysis and Design