Coercion in Bioethics

Human enhancement – the ability to use technology to change our bodies and minds – is a rapidly growing and fascinating field with important social implications. With new technologies come new questions. When athletes take steroids to increase muscle mass, or students take drugs such as Adderall and Ritalin to improve academic performance, their actions have significant ethical implications. In response to these new ethical considerations, two polarized camps have emerged. On one side, there is the Transhumanist camp, which advocates wide availability of and broad use of technology to expand human capacities. Conversely, the Bioconservatives view such use of technology and medicine as dehumanizing and oppose its use to enhance human capabilities on moral and social grounds. Both positions hold that an essential component of human dignity stems from individual choice. Each argues that the other eliminates this choice through coercion. Under the Transhumanist scenario, enhancement technologies are readily available, and the choice not to partake in enhancing practices may put an individual at a social disadvantage. Individuals who want to compete academically, athletically o