Tuesday, April 28
Human Enhancement
So I just had a few thoughts from last weeks presentation. First off I just think it would be entertaining to admit that I had the second lowest score of 9 =) I guess you could say I am on the con side. When I think of the difference between therapy and enhancement I see it as this: Therapy is helping someone meet their current potential and I see enhancement as enabling someone to go beyond their potential. Is bigger really better? I dont think so at all. I don't think that being able to give someone a pill to make them happy will make the world a better place let alone that person be truely happy. I see it as an easy way out. I think the point that stood out the most from the critic side was the loss of pride in one-self. To give everyone the opportunity to make themselves go beyond their potential seems to me that what makes us so much different from other creatures is our vast amount of emotions. This is kinda extreme but I see our world going towards that scene in the movie "Wall-E" where technology was so advanced no one had the desire to do anything and they all became so obese they couldnt get up and they just sat around all day and no relationships except for those in their virtual world. That is a pretty extreme case, but I think one of the reasons we have people excell in certain activities is because they can take pride and joy into the work they put into excelling and that satisfaction you get when recieving a first place in an activity just wouldnt be the same. You took a pill to make you run faster, yeah you would probably have to work alittle so that your muscles could work, but that extra training you did to be the fastest wouldnt mean anything. The award ceremony would mean nothing, the pill deserved the award... not you. One thing I did notice throughout the presentation was that the two sides were almost argueing against different things and I believe this happens alot. The pro side seemed to be argueing for enhancement that could be used to fix physical deformities, physical complications, and diseases. The critic side seemed to be argueing against super humans. First off, for the pro side, I have to say that I believe a hundred percent that plastic surgery is an enhancement. But as someone said in class it has been so abused and the ability to help people has gone way beyond that. I think the the human race cant handle alot of our technology. I think it was said at the end of class, but the idea that we need to argue for the same thing and debate a certain situation instead of debating the whole topic. Sorry this is so scattered... I just had alot on my mind =)
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I have several responses to varying comments that you made.
ReplyDeleteFirst, when describing/defining what enhancement is and what therapy is you base both on what an individual’s potential is. However, how do you determine what an individual's potential is? what is potential? I agree that when I have cold I do not feel my best, so is my potential when I feel my best? However, what if I were to have some sort of deformity, disability, or was born with a certain disorder or condition, then how would you determine what my potential was? Would you determine what the average in society was and compare me to the average? But, what if I am happy with my current state and think I am at my full potential? Also, what if my potential was above average? If I got sick and want to treat myself, would that then be wrong of me? Either way, I think that you need to provide a more specific distinction.
Second, you state: "the pro side seemed to be arguing for enhancement that could be used to fix physical deformities, physical complications, and disease." This is actually not entirely true. For the proponents agree that these are types of enhancements (due to not seeing a difference between therapy and enhancement), but they also acknowledge that such enhancements are already in use and are continually being developed in medicine. The proponents also want to pursue, for example, cognitive enhancement to increase our reasoning, comprehension, etc abilities. In general though, they want to enhance ourselves beyond the state we currently are in.
Finally, you make a note that you think plastic surgery is an enhancement. I would say that plastic surgery according to the proponents plastic surgery is a type of enhancement, but that they would say it is not a proper enhancement that should be promoted. For it may promote the individual’s well-being in a superficial manner but how does it benefit society? Majority of the proponents argue that when considering what enhancements to use and pursue that you must consider not only your well-being but other’s too (you must consider the individual and societal benefits).