Download Moral Enhancement - Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies

THE BENEFITS AND RISKS
OF VIRTUE ENGINEERING
James J. Hughes Ph.D.
Executive Director, Institute for Ethics
and Emerging Technologies
Public Policy Studies, Trinity College
[email protected]
ieet.org
Body and Enhancement Technology – Oct 4-6, 2012
POSTECH, Pohang, South Korea
Emerging, Converging Tech
Tech that will radically change the human
brain:
 Psychopharmacology
 Genetic
engineering
 Nanotechnology
 Artificial intelligence
 Cognitive science
The accelerating convergence of all these
 “for improving human performance”

Types of Enhancement

Physiological Enhancement
 Curing
disabilities
 Health
 Longevity

Cognitive Enhancement
 Intelligence
 Emotional
control
 Heightened senses

Moral Enhancement
 Spiritual
experiences
 Improved moral sensibilities and behavior
The Goal? Happiness? or More?

Chemical Happiness

Wireheading


Hedonic happiness
vs. eudaemonia
Good mood vs.
a feeling of true
accomplishment and
developed virtue
Moral Enhancement Necessity
Savulescu and Persson 2012
Unfit for the Future: The Need
for Moral Enhancement
 Humanity isn’t morally
foresighted enough to survive
our challenges
 Tech super-empowers
malevolent individuals
 Widespread moral
enhancement is necessary for
survival
Moral Suppression?
Rewards at work or military for
 less empathy or honesty
 cold rational calculation
We need a
social
discussion
about the risks
of moral
suppression
and the need
for moral
enhancement
Treating Psychopaths

Identifying and treating
psychopaths
Civilization is Moral Enhancement
 Learning
to act like a
human being
 Neo-Confucian
morality: manners,
social skills
 Alasdair
Macintyre:
Virtues are social skills
specific to societies
Broad Moral Enhancement
Hardware
Internal
External
Brain Systems
Mirror neurons
Innate sentiments
Self-control capacity
Neurotech therapies
Institutions
Schools and churches
Police and prisons
Moral gadgets
Uniforms
Wedding rings
Wiring teeth, diet
trackers, FitBit
Software
Internalized norms
Moral reasoning
Pedagogical methods
Meditation
Ethical software
Laws, religion
Social norms
Decision support
Lie detectors
Plagiarism checkers
Trading surveillance
Ehical warbots
Morality Gadgets


Enclothed cognition:
Religious clothing, hair
shirts, tefillin, lab coats
Behavior-triggered morality
aids: e.g. email language
filters, sobriety locks on cars
Moral Enhancement Has Always Involved
Both Enculturation and Technology

Shamanic use of entheogens

Iayuvredic vegetarianism:
vegan diet makes people
calmer, more pure

Tryptophan

Chinese herbs for moral
control

Moral benefits of fasting

Alcohol and drugs lead to
loss of moral self-control
Suppressing Vice is Enhancing of Virtue



Causes of auto accidents

Driving norms

Traffic laws and policing

Alcohol

Cell-phones

ADHD

Fatigue
Immorality of intoxication
when it endangers others
Immorality of not drinking
coffee or taking modafinil
when it endangers others
Moral Enhancement Makes Us More Responsible




Understanding neurological
causes of behavior allegedly
undermines personal
accountability
But moral enhancement
technologies make us even more
responsible
Did you take your pill?
Using moral enhancement tech
will be both motivated by social
control and be an exercise in selfcontrol
Binding Ourselves is Self-Control
Buddhist Virtues









Self-Control
Generosity
Wisdom
Diligent effort
Patience
Honesty
Determination
Loving-kindness
Equanimity
Self-Control as Foundation


All
philosophical
and religious
traditions
agree
Without selfcontrol we
can’t practice
any other
virtues
Cognitive Liberty




Liberal democratic values
Bodily autonomy: right to control
own body
Freedom of conscience, thought:
right to control your brain
Liberal democracy’s goal of
facilitating self-realization

Decriminalizing psychoactive drugs

Brain privacy
Risks to Cognitive Liberty
Moral enhancement doesn’t
pose novel challenges, but
offers novel solutions

Lack of Privacy

Overt Control

Ownership

Social Norms

New addictions

Unequal access to neurotech
Overt Control




Soviet psychiatry
Extension of debates over
freedom of thought,
communication,
indoctrination,
involuntary commitment
Uses of neurotech to
control desire, identity,
ideation, knowledge
Defend liberal society,
fight totalitarianism
Ongoing need to parse
legitimate cognitive liberty
from insanity and criminality
Normative Neuro-Authoritarianism
Self-Imposed:

Neuro-enforced patriarchy and
theocracy

Amoral workers and soldiers

Transgenders fix brain or body?
Moral Progress and Cognitive Liberty

Moral enhancement will change social
norms and definition of criminality

Continually redraw ing of boundaries
of cognitive liberty

Slippery slopes apply as much to
cultural norms as to moral
enhancement technologies

All societies have evolving lines of
what constitutes criminal or insane
behavior

Sex/gender nonconformity

Rape: from Leviticus, execution and
castration to prison and testosterone
suppression
Therapies for Drug Dependency

Safer drugs

Control of addictions

Alcohol aversion drugs, e.g.
naltrexone

Buprenorphine (suboxone) for
opiates

Vaccines and gene therapies to
prevent or cure addictions

Brain Repair

Radical change in drug war debate
Wrath: Intermittent Explosive Disorder



6% prevalence?
Brain lesions, genetically
linked
Treatments:
antidepressants,
antipsychotics, betablockers, alpha(2)agonists, phenytoin and
mood stabilizers.
Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies
Moral Self-Direction



Becoming aware of
and controlling
external influences
Conscious control of
susceptibility to
pressure to conform,
obey
Spam filters, pop-up
blockers, Mean Girl
and anti-bullying
training
Diligence and Concentration

Stimulants for
attention deficit
disorder
Loving-Kindness
Impairments in
 Early
attachments
 Oxytocin
 Mirror neurons
Empathy Therapies
Diagnosis for, and
subsidized enhancement of,
the genetic and
neurophysiological bases of
empathy and agreeableness
•
Oxytocin and serotonin
•
Attitudes toward immigrants
has a genetic component
•
Pathological racism &
homophobia as mental
disorders
The Right to Be a Jerk
Balancing between
 Suppressing sociopathy
 Encouraging pro-social values
 Criminalizing free thought and emotion
Haidt’s Five Moral Intuitions
Liberals:
 Harm/care
 Fairness/reciprocity
Conservatives
 Ingroup loyalty
 Respect for
authority
 Purity/sanctity
Being ethical may require
suppressing some moral
intuitions and enhancing others
Suppressing (Im)moral Sentiments

Propranolol suppresses
disgust/fear, racism

Pinker and violence – the gradual
victory of Enlightenment moral
codes
 Universalism
 Tolerance
of diversity
Reinforcing Reasonable Sentiments
 Oxytocin
& in-group
empathy
 Serotonin
and harm
aversion
 What
is fairness?
Who is a
cheater/cheated?
 Need
for wisdom and
insight
Openness to Novelty, Ambiguity

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Openness to novelty,
tolerance of ambiguity,
50% genetic
Related to authoritarianism
and fundamentalism
(Eidelman et al 2012) Alcohol
makes people more
conservative, caffeine more
open minded
Psilocybin has long term
effect on increasing openness
Moral Cognition vs. Sentiment

Balancing wisdom and compassion
Discriminating Wisdom

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Moral character is a balanced
composite of sentiments, habits and
reasoning
Truth is not always virtuous
Wisdom & compassion:
The ability to determine right action
in the situation is a virtue
Moral effect of enhancement of
alertness, memory, cognitive speed,
predictive accuracy
Overcoming cognitive biases
Brain-Machine Interfaces
Boundlessness & Absorption


Meditation and drugs
breaks down the illusion
of continuous, discrete
self
Trans-Cranial Magnetic
Simulation (TMS) to
suppress proprioception
The Promise of Moral Enhancement
Moral enhancement
 Continuation of ancient
spiritual aspirations
 Help for living together
 Balance against empty
hedonism
 Prophylactic for
psychopaths, especially
once they are enhanced
The Risks



Overt state control of
moral sentiments
Self-imposed normative
control
Suppression of moral
sentiments in order to be
more successful as a
worker, soldier or
socially
For more:


http://ieet.org/archive/
[email protected]