Some of these programs are radio chat shows, about books, philosophy, sociology and more and more you hear eminent thinkers being interviewed. And more and more they deal with the weighty matters of the day...
Yesterday I was listening to Start The Week with Andrew Marr (on the BBC) where the panel of interviewees included Richard Dawkins, Sir Roy Anderson (who advised the British Government on Swine Flu), Professor John Shepherd (an expert on Geo Engineering of the planet as a solution for climate change) and Professor Barbara Zahakian (from Cambridge and a leading researcher on cognitive enhancers).
All fascinating, but the topic that was most interesting was the matter of cognitive enhancers. These are the field of drugs that are coming into use to address ADHD - but are being used also to help sharpen the mind generally. They apparently help address jet lag and are apparently also non-addictive - one of them is called modafinil.
In the program Richard Dawkins raised the ethics question about these drugs. After all, its no different from the Olympics, right? What happens when a student takes modafinil before sitting for an exam to help sharpen his or her mind?
But once you get out of the educational system and into business, surely you would do anything you could to help you focus on the negotiation, the report that you are writing, or the speech that you are giving...
And lets face it, all the armed forces of the world give their troops substances to increase their efficiency at killing. Do they ask the ethical question before prescribing amphetamines?
Interesting question isn't it. We run headlong into ethical dilemmas alongside these incredible discoveries that science provides... And what will be the consequences?
Keywords:
science
