The Biopolitics of Human Enhancement

The study of the social implications of human enhancement is an interdisciplinary work that draws from the fields of political science, sociology, philosophy, and bioethics, among others. It is also a complex and rapidly evolving subject that raises important questions about the potential benefits and risks of these technologies, as well as how society should govern and regulate their development and use. An in-depth exploration of current and future human enhancement technologies, this book delves into the specifics of current and emerging human enhancement technologies, such as cognitive enhancers, brain-computer interfaces, and genetic engineering, discussing the state of the art, the limitations and also the technological developments that one can expect in the future and how they can be regulated and used responsibly.

Steven Umbrello is the Managing Director of the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies, a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Delft University of Technology and a Stiftung Südtiroler Sparkasse Global Fellow at Eurac Research. His research focuses more broadly on value sensitive design, its philosophical foundations as well as its application to novel technologies like AI, nanotech, and Industry 4.0. James Hughes is the Executive Director of the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies. He works as a bioethicist and sociologist and also serves as the Associate Provost for Institutional Research, Assessment and Planning for the University of Massachusetts in Boston. Cristiano Calì is a post-doctoral fellow at the Pontifical University of St Thomas Aquinas in Rome and at the Università degli Studi di Torino, where he works on the philosophy of mind, moral philosophy and AI ethics. He is also an associate researcher at the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies (IEET) in Boston.