[extropy-chat] The Economist on cognitive enhancement

[Giu1i0 Pri5c0]

>From the Economist's Technology Quarterly: Supercharging the brain -
New drugs promise to improve memory and sharpen mental response. Who
should be allowed to take them?
Within a few years, you may have the option of taking a "cognitive
enhancer" - a drug that sharpens your mental faculties. Much progress
has been made in understanding the processes of memory and cognition.
Advances in genetics, molecular biology and brain-imaging technologies
allowed researchers to scrutinise the brain's workings and gave them
the potential to create drugs to enhance aspects of its performance.
Though there are very few products on the market that reflect this
increased understanding, that may soon change.

But there is a fine line between curing the ill and enhancing the
well. The gradual deterioration of mental faculties is part of the
natural process of ageing. There are now about 85m people aged 50 and
over in America, many of whom may already fit the definition of
"age-related cognitive decline", a category so vague it includes
people who become distressed over such mild glitches as forgetting
their keys or glasses. Should they be offered "cognitive enhancers"
too?
This question is left unanswered by the paper, which offers a bird
view of current and planned developments in cognitive enhancement.

http://www.economist.com/science/tq/displayStory.cfm?story_id=3171454