Creating New Enhancements Argumentative Essay

The existence of a medication that would provide individuals increased intelligence and performance without any long-term side effects and limited transient effects would seem to be a fantastic advancement in human medicine. Because the possibilities to use such a medication are endless, such a drug would raise issues regarding regulation. Questions such as: Who should have access to the drug? and When the drug can and should be used? will arise. This has the potential to be a very real issue that needs to be acknowledged and discussed as it has the potential to have major implications in both institutional and professional settings.
Currently, an estimated 16% of students U.S. college students take non-prescribed medications as study aids in the …show more content…
The threat of dehumanization is a growing fear due to the result of scientific advancements in the biotechnology field (The President’s Council on Bioethics, 2003). While biotechnology is a growing area of science, there have been several concerns about the difference between generating new therapies vs. creating new enhancements. Enhancements are controversial because they go beyond restoring an individual to normal function (The President’s Council on Bioethics, 2003). This makes enhancements morally problematic because it seeks a new level of perfection that is not seen naturally in humans (Sandel, 2002). Questions about what defines humanity and how an enhancement affects human dignity are the focal point in the argument on biotechnological enhancements. However as Steven Pinker argues, we should not be looking at how such advancements affect human dignity, but instead how they affect respect for persons (2008). Using this perspective, it allows us to not sensationalize technology and be more excepting towards new technology that might benefit human