Straining their brains: why the case against enhancement is not persuasive.

Your kid’s schoolwork not up to par? Looking for Mr. or Ms. Right? Any other problems caused by a mind’s eye seemingly not quite on the ball? Answers might lie in a brain-enhancing pill. Some argue this is merely better living through chemistry and in line with humanity’s self-improving actions throughout history, but others suggest that quick-fix medications could well distort the very things that make us human. Here a leading bioethicist squares off with a member of the President’s Council on Bioethics on the controversy about pursuing better brains with a little help from biotechnology. Comments © 2004. Permission from Dana Press. Reprinted from Cerebrum, Volume 6, Issue 4, Fall 2004, pages 13-29. Publisher URL: http://www.dana.org/books/press/cerebrum/ This journal article is available at ScholarlyCommons: http://repository.upenn.edu/neuroethics_pubs/29