The Promise of Human Enhancement by Design: Perfection, Desire and Biotechnologies (La promesa de la mejora humana mediante el diseño: perfección, deseo y biotecnologías)
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Abstract
Although it has triggered a wide range of academic and public debates, the human enhancement thesis is epistemologically challenging and ethically weak. In general terms, this is due to the fact that only biomedical enhancements justify the title of “human being enhancements”, as other types of enhancement [moral, cognitive, among others] are not directly coupled to the body. This paper is focused on some conceptual matters of human enhancement based on the idea of design, having important ethical implications. In particular, it analyzes how the concept of human enhancement is falsely related to the need to overcome design and, consequently, to the concern that the rapid technological expansion could put our species at risk. Against this idea, it is argued that the “promise of a better future” would be just a remnant of the way that we naturally evolved throughout history.
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