Robo-Quandary
From: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel - 05/08/2007
By: Mark Johnson

Marquette University assistant philosophy professor Keith A. Bauer questions
where humans will draw the line when it comes to how far will we allow
technology to change our lives and our bodies. In the paper "Wired Patients,"
due to be published this year in the Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare
Ethics, Bauer describes a possible future where children are genetically
engineered to be smarter and well behaved, adults will live 20 years longer
than today, wireless links connect our brains to email transmitters, and
humans are given biological upgrades such as night vision. While these
predictions are in the future, current technology is not that far behind.
Already, about 200 Americans have received an implant called the VeriChip
that stores medical information that can be retrieved by a doctor with a
scanner. Other technologies described in the paper include electrodes that
can be implanted into patients brains to help them regain functions lost to
strokes and spinal cord injuries, implantable heart monitors that can collect
information at home and send it to a doctor in the hospital, artificial
hearts that prolong life, and so-called bionic limbs that replace those lost
through war or an accident. Meanwhile, many Americans are unaware of the
debate over transhumanism, a movement that supports using new technology to
expand the capabilities of the human mind and body. Supporters believe that
humans have always desired to improve the human species and that not
utilizing technology to do so is admitting defeat to the slow changes in
evolution. Those opposed believe that redesigning ourselves and our children
will widen the gap between the privileged and the underprivileged, changing
the lives of future generations and assuming God-like powers. Bauer expressed
his concern that these modification may not only change ourselves, but will
alter the species, and that any government effort to control such technology
lags behind the advancements of science. 

Read the entire article at:
http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=603228

Links:
Keith A. Bauer
http://marquette.edu/phil/faculty/bauer.html

Of humans and cyborgs
http://www.marquette.edu/research/ethics3.shtml

Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics
http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayJournal?jid=CQH

Journal abstract
http://www.journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=1017152