Sort of similarly, I heard a snippet of an NPR piece this morning in which they discussed the ethics of genetically engineering children.
The big objection seems to be that it's "playing god," but the person speaking said that when antibiotics came out, people made the same argument. Hmm. I'm going to get a copy of that article for my students. That's sure to spark some good discussion. Thanks! m PS Don't you people have finals to grade? ------- Marc L Carter, PhD Associate Professor and Chair Department of Psychology Baker University College of Arts & Sciences ------- > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: Monday, December 08, 2008 9:23 AM > To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) > Subject: [tips] Legalizing cognitive enhancers > > There's a startling opinion piece just published in _Nature_ > , made freely available for a week to stimulate discussion. > One of its authors is the neuroscientist well known to > psychologists, Michael Gazzaniga. The co-authors appear > similarly eminent and well-qualified. > > http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/456702a.html > Greely, H. et al. Towards responsible use of > cognitive-enhancing drugs by the healthy. Nature , | > doi:10.1038/456702a; Published online 7 December 2008 > > [BTW, if printing a pdf like this out direct from the journal > produces a strange garble of text (mine often does) the > solution is to first save to a file, then print]. > > The commentary concerns "cognitive enhancers" such as Ritalin > and the anti-narcolepsy drug Modafinil. These drugs are > currently used legally to treat people with ADHD and > narcolepsy, and are starting to be used to help people with > cancer-associated severe fatigue. The military also > prescribes them to enhance alertness and performance. They > are increasingly used illegally by college students and their > professors for the same purpose. > > The commentary makes the jaw-dropping suggestion that these > drugs should be made legally available to healthy people for > cognitive enhancement purposes. In their words, which they > provide in italics, "We call for a presumption that mentally > competent adults should be able to engage in cognitive > enhancement using drugs". [I think they need a comma after > "enhancement" to clarify what they're proposing] > > Yeah, right. That's about as likely as the US legalizing > marijuana any time soon. > > Stephen > ----------------------------------------------------------------- > Stephen L. Black, Ph.D. > Professor of Psychology, Emeritus > Bishop's University e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > 2600 College St. > Sherbrooke QC J1M 1Z7 > Canada > > Subscribe to discussion list (TIPS) for the teaching of > psychology at http://flightline.highline.edu/sfrantz/tips/ > -------------------------------------------------------------- > --------- > > --- > To make changes to your subscription contact: > > Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) > --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
