According to British ethicist Thomas Douglas, human enhancement is “the use of biomedical technology to achieve goals other than the treatment or prevention of disease”. With pills, brain stimulators, cosmetic operations or, for example, gene therapy, people can enhance themselves or others. This development is linked to important societal and ethical aspects.
Initially, with the project Human Enhancement, the Rathenau Instituut wanted to broaden the discussion on the possibilities and desirability of human enhancement. Until 2008, this was limited to a handful of scientists and a small circle of policymakers. On 24 February 2009 the Rathenau Instituut organized a workshop on human enhancement for STOA, the Technology Assessment Group of the European Parliament, at the European Parliament in Brussels.
In November 2009, at request of the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of the Interior, the
Rathenau Instituut and these ministries drew up the programme for a Knowledge Chamber, which took place on 10 November 2009. The Knowledge Chamber was intended to inform members of the
government, members of administrative bodies and other stakeholders on the possibilities of human enhancement technologies in the fields of justice and security. The ministries expressed a need to separate fact from fiction surrounding human enhancement and a need to downsize expectations to realistic proportions.
Especially interesting are the opportunities and drawbacks that follow from the developments of various technologies. How could this best serve collective ends? What is known, what is possible in these fields and what do we want, and what do we consider done and not done? Not done, for example, involves fundamental social values, such as human dignity, diversity, equality and social cohesion.
The following subjects have been chosen: psychopharmacology, neurotechnology (such as deep brain stimulation and neurofeedback), exoskeletons (robot suits for people) and ICT technology that stimulates desired behaviour (so-called persuasive technologies). The choice for these themes is logical considering the specific interests of officials at the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of the Interior. Moreover, not too long ago the Scientific Council for Government Policy (WRR) discussed ‘nudging’, which included persuasive technologies.
Stakeholders
Initially the Rathenau Instituut’s target group was wide and generic, to broaden the discussion on human enhancement. The Knowledge Chamber’s target group, however, was limited to the official top of the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of the Interior. Various experts were invited to the Knowledge Chamber meeting. The information strategy was as follows: after informing the official top, the policy layers below would be informed through a conference for policy advisers. This conference took place in 2010.
The target group of the workshop Human Enhancement (by the European Parliament and held in 2009) included both members of the European Parliament as well as experts (scientists) and stakeholders (from business). At a later stage (2010) the public in general was subject to further research through focus groups.
Activities and products
In 2008 a study on human enhancement was published. British and Dutch scientists were asked to provide essays. The essay collection, titled Reshaping the Human Condition: Exploring Human Enhancement, was presented on 8 July 2008 in collaboration with the British Embassy in The Hague. At the request of NWO, the Rathenau Instituut wrote the essay ‘Future Man – No Future Man’ which was published in 2009.
Members of the European Parliament, European experts and stakeholders in the field of human enhancement were invited to the workshop ‘The New You: Smarter, Stronger, Faster and Better? A European Approach to Human Enhancement’, which was organized in 2009 for the STOA
(European Parliament). There were about 45 participants, including six members of the European Parliament.
Together with the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of the Interior, the Rathenau Instituut worked out the programme for the Knowledge Chamber Human Enhancement, which was held on 10 November 2009. For this Knowledge Chamber, in collaboration with the ministries a programme book was made and published. Employees of the Rathenau Instituut wrote its introduction, followed by short position papers by the invited experts.
This activity was followed-up with a conference on human enhancement, which the Rathenau Instituut organized in May 2010 for the policymakers of both previously mentioned ministries. During this conference, the opportunities and drawbacks of human enhancement were discussed for a just and secure country. The conference day started with a master class by Jan Staman of the
Rathenau Instituut.
Parallel to this activity, the Rathenau Instituut researched the views of Dutch citizens on the desirability of enhancement technology and their arguments. In 2010, in five focus groups, citizens were asked what their views were on the consequences of enhancement technologies.
In September 2010, the Rathenau Instituut held a presentation on human enhancement for the Kamer van Morgen, a think-tank by Kennisnet, the Internet organization of the Ministry of
Education, Culture and Science. The institute also co-produced the essay collection Enhancing Human Capacities (Ter Meulen et al.), in which experts from Europe and the U.S. shared their views on the ethical and political implications of human enhancement.
Publications:
Reshaping the Human Condition: Exploring Human Enhancement, 2008.
Future Man – No FutureMan, 2009.
Report Human Enhancement, 2009. Published by STOA/European Parliament, to which M. Schuijff of the Rathenau Instituut made an important contribution.
Programme book of the Knowledge Chamber Human Enhancement, 2009.
Published by the Rathenau Instituut in collaboration with the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of the Interior.
Mens van de toekomst, mens zonder toekomst, (2009), an adaptation of the
abovementioned essay Future Man – No Future Man, by M. Smit, M. Schuijff, R. van Est and P. Klaassen.
Later publications on the subject are:
Van Vergeetpil tot Robotpak. Human enhancement voor een veilige en rechtvaardige samenleving? Eds. Jacqueline B. de Jong, Ira van Keulen, Jeanette Quast. July 2011. This study is a collaborative publication by the two ministries (the Interior and Kingdom Relations, and Security and Justice) and the Rathenau Instituut. In the concluding chapter, the Rathenau Instituut provides a few checks and balances for the employment of human enhancement technologies for collective ends. According to the Rathenau Instituut, human enhancement technologies may only be employed if they comply with the requirements of voluntariness, minimal invasion, security and transparency. The government must also be open to debate with the intended target group, and liability must be clearly determined.
Enhancing Human Capacities. Julian Savulescu, Ruud ter Meulen, Guy Kahane (Eds.). Wiley- Blackwell, 2011. A collection of essays in which experts from Europe and the U.S. share their views on the ethical and political implications of human enhancement.
Assessment and impact
As a result of the workshop on human enhancement in the European Parliament, it has become clear that there is a need for a committee at the European level in which politicians, together with experts and citizens, follow the developments surrounding human enhancement and set a political agenda. Meanwhile, the Rathenau Instituut is doing a continuation study for the European
Parliament, titled Making Perfect Life.
After the first Knowledge Chamber meeting with the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of the Interior, a conference was organized in 2010 for policy advisers in collaboration with the Rathenau Instituut, and this goes to show that the Rathenau Instituut’s earlier contribution was much valued. In 2011, the Raad voor Strafrechttoepassing en Jeugdbescherming (Council for Criminal Law Enforcement and Child Protection) began preparing a preliminary report on human enhancement. Furthermore, international collaboration with publishers took place on possible opportunities and drawbacks of human enhancement and its ethical and societal aspects. Next, a suggestion was made that the Rathenau Instituut could participate in the activities of the National Initiative Brain & Cognition (NIHC), but this idea did not substantiate. In the U.S. the National Research Council and the Department of Defense have shown great interest in Dutch contributions in this field, as they give Americans a good look at the state of the art in Europe.
The newspaper Trouw published a series of articles on human enhancement on 17 and 24 January 2009 by M. Smits, M. Schuijff and F. Brom. Furthermore, articles have appeared in the
Reformatorisch dagblad (4 April), De Groene Amsterdammer (9 January) and the Tijdschrift voor Sociale Vraagstukken TSS, no.1-2. Ten interviews have been broadcast on radio and television over the period between 24 June and 3 July.