Cognitive-enhancing drugs
- If an accredited university is offered 4 100 million dollars to resurrect Neanderthal human, should it do so?
Cloning is difficult since it requires about 40,000-year-old bones of the extinct species. The process is sophisticated and extremely expensive. However, there are ethical questions that arise from the resurrection of this species. The method of cloning will involve using a surrogate mother to birth the specie, and this procedure is challenging based on the fact that there I a higher failure rate and this can result to the death of the surrogate. Questions arise, is it worth to put the life of another human being at risk just because of a discovery? Well, the answer is no. If a Neanderthal survives to raise it in a modern environment is complicated. These species were extinct before the agrarian revolution; hence there diet is entirely different. There would be an emotional troll if a Neanderthal kid would interact with normal children. If it is far more substantial, the specie might be excluded from interacting with children in sports and holidays. Resurrecting species will upset the balance of nature, and a lot of resources will be used which would have in turn be used to save natural habitats of the remaining species.
- Argue for the responsible use of cognitive-enhancing drugs, their ethical approach and your ethical approach.
Cognitive enhancing drugs can be used responsibly. In the United States; the military is required to take these drugs for alertness purposes. This ensures there are always alert in protecting the country, and it is a good reason. These drugs are also essential in treating psychiatric and neurological conditions. The drugs increase the executive function of the patient, and the body can manipulate information in their memory and responses. The drug alters the brain function and is beneficial to the neural changes. Cognitive-enhancing drugs are morally equivalent to other enhancement. (Greely, (2013))
Cognitive-enhancing drugs affect complex human organs; therefore, poses a risk. There is a regulation to ensure these drugs are administered for analytical purposes only and not “off label” use. The medication is only applied to the patient with severe dimensions and not to healthy people seeking enhancement. (Savulescu, (2011). .)
In my opinion, using these drugs should only be allowed when prescribed by the doctor. Not many students can access these drugs, and this will be unfair to them compared to the ones using as they will enhance their performances. There would be no fairness in return. Coercion of the drug should be prohibited as this is only done to people who possess harm to themselves and others.in as much it poses benefit it is not ethically right to ignore problems that come along with continued use of the drug.
References
Greely, H. T. ( (2013)). Some first steps toward responsible use of cognitive-enhancing drugs by the healthy,. . The American Journal of Bioethics, 13(7), 39-41.
Savulescu, J. T. ((2011). .). Enhancing human capacities. John Wiley & Sons.