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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 director@ieet.org ieet.org Moral Brain Conf – New York Univ – Mar 30-Apr 1, 2012
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Civilization is Moral Enhancement The first human who hurled an insult instead of a stone was the founder of civilization. ~Sigmund Freud Alasdair Macintyre: Virtues are social skills specific to societies
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Moral Enhancement Has Always Involved Both Enculturation and Neurotechnology 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
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Broad Moral Enhancement Neurotechnology is continuous with neural software modification and external technology Internal External HardwareSoftware Mirror neurons Innate sentiments Self-control capacity Chemical, genetic, nanotech moral therapies Laws Social norms Ethical software (decision support, plagiarism checkers, trading surveillance, ethical warbots, etc.) Internalized norms Moral reasoning Pedagogical methods Meditation Schools and churches Police and prisons Moral gadgets (wiring teeth, diet trackers, FitBit, etc.)
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Morality Gadgets Enclothed cognition: Religious clothing, hair shirts, tefillin, lab coats Behavior-triggered morality aids: e.g. email language filters, sobriety locks on cars
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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
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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 self-control
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Binding Ourselves is Self-Control
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The Enlightenment and Moral Enhancement Focusing and shaping our moral sentiments with moral reasoning and technology instead of faith and magic In 1780 Benjamin Franklin wrote to Joseph Priestley, “It is impossible to imagine the height to which may be carried, in a thousand years, the power of man over matter. …all diseases may by sure means be prevented or cured (not excepting even that of old age) and our lives lengthened at pleasure, even beyond the antediluvian standard. Oh that moral science were in as fair a way of improvement, that men would cease to be wolves to one another, and that human beings would at length learn what they now improperly call humanity.“ Benjamin Franklin: “Wine makes daily living easier, less hurried, with fewer tensions and more tolerance.”
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Coffee and the Enlightenment (Eidelman et al 2012) Alcohol makes people more conservative, caffeine more open minded Beer was a “Foggy Ale” that “besieg'd our Brains” Coffee:...that Grave and Wholesome Liquor, that heals the Stomach, makes the Genius quicker, Relieves the Memory, revives the Sad, and cheers the Spirits, without making Mad. Anonymous 1674 Coffeehouses: “penny universities” and hotbeds of Enlightenment radicalism
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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
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Suppressing (Im)moral Sentiments Harris’ objection: more to morality than sentiment Haidt argues for tolerance of all moral sentiments Enlightenment values and moral reasoning compel us to suppress some moral sentiments – disgust, in-group loyalty, submission to authority Propranolol suppresses disgust/fear, racism Irony of Haidt’s appeal for tolerance of conservative values Pinker and violence – the gradual victory of Enlightenment moral codes Universalism Tolerance of diversity
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Reinforcing Reasonable Sentiments Oxytocin & in-group empathy Serotonin and harm aversion What is fairness? Who is a cheater/cheated? Empathy towards who? Expressed how? The over-taxed 1% or the 99% or the poorest? Paternalism versus tolerance
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Discriminating Wisdom 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 Flynn effect means that capacities for rational reflection, complex moral reasoning, and abstract empathy are growing Enhancement of alertness, memory, cognitive speed, predictive accuracy Overcoming cognitive biases
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Cognitive Liberty 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
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Moral Progress and Cognitive Liberty Moral enhancement will change social norms and definition of criminality Need to continually redraw 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
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Risks to Cognitive Liberty Moral enhancement doesn’t pose novel challenges, but offers novel solutions Lack of Privacy Overt Control Ownership Social Norms Addiction Inequality
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Brain Privacy Extension of privacy of written and electronic records, drug tests Predictive brain fingerprinting eventually functional Need for laws requiring warrants for brain scans, protecting brain privacy at work
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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
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Normative Neuro-Authoritarianism Top down: Brain fingerprinting and e-collars on thought-criminals Enhanced authoritarian China Or Bottom-up: Neuro-enforced patriarchy and theocracy Amoral workers and soldiers Self-enforced cognitive uniformity: - transgenders fix brain or body?
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Moral Self-Direction Becoming aware of external influences Conscious control of susceptibility to pressure to conform, obey Extension of consciousness raising about how to recognize and resist commercial & political manipulation Spam filters, pop-up blockers, Mean Girl and anti-bullying training
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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
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Intellectual Property Intellectual property over-reach: pharmaceuticals, gene patenting, medical devices Corporate-owned brain operating systems: Microsoft Brain, iThink Fight over right to control computer hardware and data: ebooks, music, film
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End the Drug War with Therapies for Drug Dependency Neurotech Dangers: Super-Methamphetamine Wireheading Neurotech Benefits: Safer drugs Control of addictions Brain Repair Examples: Alcohol aversion drugs, e.g. naltrexone Buprenorphine for opiates Vaccines and gene therapies to prevent or cure addictions
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Needed: Positive Liberal Model of the Good Personality Liberal but still positive normative model of the good life Some ways of thinking and feeling should be discouraged and others encouraged
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Ensuring Equal Access to Moral Self-Regulation Mischel: Inequality in self- regulation causes unequal life outcomes Parallel to education policy, access to mental health treatment, digital divide Universal access is necessary for equal opportunity Only a fraction of the kids with ADD worldwide have access to stimulant drugs “…enhancing intelligence or changing personality or modifying our memory, maybe that should be available to everyone as a guarantee of equal opportunity.” Arthur Caplan
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Better Citizens and Persons More compassion and wisdom More self-aware & independent Better moral & political decision-making
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