AmpedTraining Blog
2010 February 23 | 7 Comments »
By Matt
From here: http://www.physorg.com/news185738503.html
There’s some interesting points raised, regarding inherent genetic limitations, the greater involvement of athletes from a wider talent pool from across the world, and the influx of both drugs and “technological solutions” into sports.
Most interesting:
“Future limits to athletic performance will be determined less and less by the innate physiology of the athlete, and more and more by scientific and technological advances and by the still-evolving judgment on where to draw the line between what is ‘natural’ and what is artificially enhanced,” [Berthelot] wrote in his paper, published in 2008 in the British Medical Bulletin.
If this is true, then it’s going to mean some very obvious – and depending on who you are, troubling – implications in the coming years, namely in the area of performance-enhancing chemistry and gene-therapy.
Of course, this says it all:
But performance based on science, not natural ability, may have less public appeal. And athletes who never improve may no longer hold our interest.
That’s always the catch-22, ain’t it?
2009 September 8 | Comments Off
By Matt
I read a lot of science-related blogs and news sources, and I saw this linked on one of them just the other day:
NSF-Funded Ethics Report on Human Enhancement Released Today
SAN LUIS OBISPO, CA – August 31, 2009 – The Human Enhancement Ethics Group today released a new report funded by the US National Science Foundation, addressing such topics as: definitions, possible scenarios, freedom & autonomy, fairness & equity, societal disruptions, human dignity, rights & obligations, and policy & law.
Entitled “Ethics of Human Enhancement: 25 Questions & Answers,” the 50-page report serves as a convenient and accessible starting point for both public and classroom discussions, such as in bioethics seminars.
You can read the whole thing for free here: Ethics of Human Enhancement: 25 Questions & Answers (PDF, 50 pages)
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