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There’s Always Potential! Medicine and the Debate on Human Enhancement for Soldiers
Koch, Bernhard
Koch, Bernhard
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“Falklands war declared void. British soldiers were doped. Rematch next year.” Even if sporting contests are sometimes likened to wars, happily no one has yet drawn an analogy such as this. Sport is supposed to be a game, but war and military force are deadly serious. But then given that war is such a serious matter, wouldn’t it seem obvious to say that rather than leaving anything to chance, we should strive for an optimum – meaning best possible – outcome, i.e. victory? And that for the sake of victory, we should be prepared to go to any lengths, including doping or a military equivalent? Doping means taking banned performance-enhancing substances or using illicit methods to enhance performance in sport. To a certain extent, doping is also part of a phenomenon called “enhancement”: enhancing performance by medical or biotechnological means, which go beyond restoring or maintaining a normal condition, i.e. they do not simply have a therapeutic or preventative effect. If these performance enhancements affect human activities, they are referred to as “human enhancement”. In practice, there is no sharp line between therapeutic use of a substance and performance-enhancing use. This shows already the complexity of the matter. We need only think of the discussions as to whether anti-impotence drugs like Viagra should be paid for by health insurance. A second difficulty is the simple fact that human beings are not biologically equipped to remain in their natural condition. For example, in Europe, clothing is essential – it is a very rudimentary form of enhancement. Human culture begins with the use of tools; this too is a method of self-improvement. But today, the human urge to optimize can go as far as “body hacking” (i.e. having technology implanted in your body and becoming almost a “cyborg”), and human genetic engineering, where the aim is to make improvements by manipulating the germline. This research does not stop with the military, in fact it tends to be the other way around. As is so often the case, military research projects are the spearhead.
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2015
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With permission of the license/copyright holder