<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body dir="auto"><div><br></div><div>On 25 Sep 2015, at 3:00 AM, Anders Sandberg <<a href="mailto:anders@aleph.se">anders@aleph.se</a>> wrote:<br><br></div><blockquote type="cite"><div>
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On 2015-09-25 07:21, Adrian Tymes wrote:<br>
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<div class="gmail_quote">On Thu, Sep 24, 2015 at 12:15 AM,
John Grigg <span dir="ltr"><<a moz-do-not-send="true" href="mailto:possiblepaths2050@gmail.com" target="_blank">possiblepaths2050@gmail.com</a>></span>
wrote:<br>
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<div>"The drug, called tolcapone, prolongs the effect of
dopamine in the prefrontal cortex of the brain, a
region involved in the regulation of complex thought
and our emotions. And early tests suggest that it
encourages people who take it to be more fair-minded
when it comes to money."<br>
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<br>
<a moz-do-not-send="true" href="http://www.sciencealert.com/scientists-have-created-a-drug-that-makes-people-more-compassionate" target="_blank">http://www.sciencealert.com/scientists-have-created-a-drug-that-makes-people-more-compassionate</a><span class="HOEnZb"></span></div>
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<div>Now let's see how many people howl in protest out of
fear it might be used on them. </div>
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My favorite paper ever on enhancement attitudes is <br>
<br>
<div id="gs_cit1" tabindex="0" class="gs_citr">Riis, J., Simmons, J.
P., & Goodwin, G. P. (2008). Preferences for enhancement
pharmaceuticals: The reluctance to enhance fundamental traits. <i>Journal
of Consumer Research</i>, <i>35</i>(3), 495-508.<br>
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<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://repository.upenn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1055&context=neuroethics_pubs">http://repository.upenn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1055&context=neuroethics_pubs</a><br>
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and they found only 9% of the respondents wanted a (fictional)
kindness enhancer. People are not too keen on enhancing what they
think is fundamental to themselves.<br>
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(When professor Julian Savulescu heard of this result during one of
my lectures he shouted "They're wrong!" - he is one of the leading
proponents of moral enhancement.)</div></blockquote><br><div>It's interesting to speculate on what sort of people and what sort of society we would have if it were a trivial matter to reprogram ourselves, so that our personalities and other psychological attributes were self-chosen. Would we make ourselves fair, hard-working, compassionate - all the things that people, religious and secular institutions throughout history aspire to, but only sometimes attain? I doubt that many people would actually want to make themselves evil, but maybe they would, in order to dominate the kind and gentle majority - who might then alter themselves in order to resist. It's hard to predict what would actually happen.</div></body></html>