The use of electrical stimulation to influence biological functions and/or pathological processes in the body has been recently termed “electroceuticals.” The most commonly used techniques are “neural electroceuticals,” forms of electrical modulation of the brain that seem to represent the new frontier both to treat neurological and psychiatric diseases, when no other effective treatments are available, and to enhance cognitive functions (Kambouris et al., 2014; Reardon, 2014;Miller and Matharu, 2017). These types of medical interventions have given rise to a wide ethical debate (Pickersgill and Hogle, 2015; Lavazza and Colzato, 2018; Packer et al., 2018). Here I wish to introduce two new challenges bearing important moral implications, which require the careful consideration of the scientific and philosophical community. These challenges can be co-present and can be placed in the same framework of human augmentation and the willingness to go beyond one's own physiological limits. However, it is possible to analytically distinguish them according to their initial conditions and their different scopes, as it will be explained. The first challenge concerns a possible shift from a mainly therapeutic use of electroceuticals to a use aimed at enhancement. This potential shift is due to the fact that technology has now fulfilled a very ancient human aspiration, that of overcoming one's limits and improving indefinitely. And the effect of this shift could be a segmentation of society between enhanced and non-enhanced individuals, something that goes against the essentially egalitarian project of modern thought (Rawls, 1999; Mason, 2006). The second challenge concerns the aging tendency and the demographic contraction that characterize European countries and Japan, and which may soon affect other economically developed countries (Lutz et al., 2008; Długosz, 2011; Murray et al., 2018). This trend, over time, will reduce the overall availability of cognitive skills and abilities in those populations, who will have to manage increasingly complex and diversified societies and environments. This mismatch between the needs arising from one's life context and the available resources could push people to resort to electroceuticals as means of strengthening their cognitive abilities, opening up scenarios in which ethical evaluations will have a role to play. Below, I will address these two challenges, giving more space to the first. Copyright © 2019 Lavazza. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
The Two-Fold Ethical Challenge in the Use of Neural Electrical Modulation
LAVAZZA A
2019-01-01
Abstract
The use of electrical stimulation to influence biological functions and/or pathological processes in the body has been recently termed “electroceuticals.” The most commonly used techniques are “neural electroceuticals,” forms of electrical modulation of the brain that seem to represent the new frontier both to treat neurological and psychiatric diseases, when no other effective treatments are available, and to enhance cognitive functions (Kambouris et al., 2014; Reardon, 2014;Miller and Matharu, 2017). These types of medical interventions have given rise to a wide ethical debate (Pickersgill and Hogle, 2015; Lavazza and Colzato, 2018; Packer et al., 2018). Here I wish to introduce two new challenges bearing important moral implications, which require the careful consideration of the scientific and philosophical community. These challenges can be co-present and can be placed in the same framework of human augmentation and the willingness to go beyond one's own physiological limits. However, it is possible to analytically distinguish them according to their initial conditions and their different scopes, as it will be explained. The first challenge concerns a possible shift from a mainly therapeutic use of electroceuticals to a use aimed at enhancement. This potential shift is due to the fact that technology has now fulfilled a very ancient human aspiration, that of overcoming one's limits and improving indefinitely. And the effect of this shift could be a segmentation of society between enhanced and non-enhanced individuals, something that goes against the essentially egalitarian project of modern thought (Rawls, 1999; Mason, 2006). The second challenge concerns the aging tendency and the demographic contraction that characterize European countries and Japan, and which may soon affect other economically developed countries (Lutz et al., 2008; Długosz, 2011; Murray et al., 2018). This trend, over time, will reduce the overall availability of cognitive skills and abilities in those populations, who will have to manage increasingly complex and diversified societies and environments. This mismatch between the needs arising from one's life context and the available resources could push people to resort to electroceuticals as means of strengthening their cognitive abilities, opening up scenarios in which ethical evaluations will have a role to play. Below, I will address these two challenges, giving more space to the first. Copyright © 2019 Lavazza. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
