Don’t know what makes something a “new topic,” but since I’m not replying to anyone in particular, I’ll go for it!

What I think is most interesting about Sahakian and Morein-Zamir’s excellent Commentary is what it doesn’t say! Let me explain what I mean.

The authors lay out the risks and benefits of enhancing the cognition of normal, healthy individuals with a clear, matter-of-fact style. They duly note the uncertainties associated with the effects of long-term use, and although I agree with Rose and others that more could be said about the ways these drugs interact with social expectations and power differentials, Sahakian and Morein-Zamir do not neglect broader societal issues and discuss them in the same framework of risks and benefits. They challenge us to look at the facts of the matter and formulate our policies, personal and societal, based on it. This rational approach is all too rare.

Too much of the previous discussion of neurocognitive enhancement has been focused on effort and dessert, and related issues like the value of hard work, the need to “earn” one’s success and self-esteem, and respect for our natural or God-given limitations (e.g., Fukuyama, 2002; Kass, 2003). Behind these moral concerns appears to lurk a gut reaction that most of us experience at least fleetingly when considering brain enhancement, a reaction that Kass has encouraged us to heed by referring to “the wisdom of repugnance.” Perfectly healthy individuals drugging themselves (or worse, their healthy children) for the sake of satisfying oversized ambitions certainly has its “repugnant” side. But is it “wise” to make decisions on the basis of a gut reaction? Or should we attempt a more rational analysis of the different contexts, methods and motives for neurocognitive enhancement and their likely outcomes?

Sahakian and Morein-Zamir’s approach is cautious but open-minded, providing a rational assessment of neurocognitive enhancement’s risks and benefits without any obeisance to the wisdom of repugnance. They have done us a service in framing the issues in this way.

Fukuyama, F. (2002). Our Posthuman Future. Farrar, Strauss and Giroux.

Kass, L. (2003). Beyond Therapy: Biotechnology and the Pursuit of
Happiness.
Harper Collins.