Current scientific and technological advances have become the main focus of concern at the European institutional level. Indeed, politicians and institutions have become aware of the fact that scientific and technological innovation needs a guide as it does not float in an open space, but in a space that contains structures and borders: fundamental rights are the main borders that confine these developments. As a matter of fact, fundamental rights risk being violated in at least two main simple ways by ungoverned technological innovation: on the one hand, interest groups of a different kind may try to use the technological power to benefit some individuals to the detriment of others and even for unethical purposes like creating a surveillance society and so forth; on the other hand, individuals may be disadvantaged as regards their possibility of accessing new scientific advances due, for instance, to excessive costs or lack of availability of devices or treatments in a given context, and this in violation of equality and self-determination principles. In this chapter, I will first analyse the relationship between the ‘age of rights’ and the ‘age of science and technology’ in order to put the discussion in context and to highlight the novelty of their interaction in the current European scenario. Secondly, I will deal with human enhancement focusing specifically on the ‘project of ‘moral’ bioenhancement’ (MB) as a case study. I will try to clarify what fundamental rights are at stake, and what possible direction this phenomenon could follow in legal terms in the European context. The legal-philosophical approach that will guide the following considerations is one that accomplishes the task of mapping and finding its bearings in different dimensions of human experience without getting lost in the secret rooms of specialty. The idea is to provide a roadmap for directing the legal discussion on these bioethical frontier issues.
Salardi, S. (2020). When the ‘Age of Science and Technology’ meets the ‘Age of Rights’. ‘Moral’ Bioenhancement as a Case Study. In D’Aloia A, Errigo C (a cura di), Neuroscience and Law: Complicated Crossings and New Perspectives (pp. 239-255). Springer International Publishing [10.1007/978-3-030-38840-9_12].
When the ‘Age of Science and Technology’ meets the ‘Age of Rights’. ‘Moral’ Bioenhancement as a Case Study
Salardi, S
2020
Abstract
Current scientific and technological advances have become the main focus of concern at the European institutional level. Indeed, politicians and institutions have become aware of the fact that scientific and technological innovation needs a guide as it does not float in an open space, but in a space that contains structures and borders: fundamental rights are the main borders that confine these developments. As a matter of fact, fundamental rights risk being violated in at least two main simple ways by ungoverned technological innovation: on the one hand, interest groups of a different kind may try to use the technological power to benefit some individuals to the detriment of others and even for unethical purposes like creating a surveillance society and so forth; on the other hand, individuals may be disadvantaged as regards their possibility of accessing new scientific advances due, for instance, to excessive costs or lack of availability of devices or treatments in a given context, and this in violation of equality and self-determination principles. In this chapter, I will first analyse the relationship between the ‘age of rights’ and the ‘age of science and technology’ in order to put the discussion in context and to highlight the novelty of their interaction in the current European scenario. Secondly, I will deal with human enhancement focusing specifically on the ‘project of ‘moral’ bioenhancement’ (MB) as a case study. I will try to clarify what fundamental rights are at stake, and what possible direction this phenomenon could follow in legal terms in the European context. The legal-philosophical approach that will guide the following considerations is one that accomplishes the task of mapping and finding its bearings in different dimensions of human experience without getting lost in the secret rooms of specialty. The idea is to provide a roadmap for directing the legal discussion on these bioethical frontier issues.
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