[ExI] wheelchair driving drunk

[Anders Sandberg]

On 2013-12-28 20:40, Gregory Lewis wrote:
> I'm a doctor. Pretty sure none of this is being contemplated by the 
> medical profession, primarily because of the medical norm that 
> nicotine/alcohol/etc. are bad things, and not the things one 
> prescribes to one's patients. Also the related medical norm of the 
> treatment/enhancement distinction: giving stuff to improve patients 
> health is okay, as is stop disease negative effecting wellbeing - 
> giving out drugs to make one feel happier is generally not deemed 
> acceptable.

Yup. But that may just mean we need to change medical norms. I have 
argued (together with Julian Savulescu) that the aim of healthcare 
should be to maximize wellbeing rather than merely health - health is 
instrumentally good for living a good life, i.e. having wellbeing, so 
why not aim straight at the target as far as possible? The treatment 
enhancement distinction of course is of no importance to us.  Of course, 
it is going to take a while to convince people...

-- 
Dr Anders Sandberg
Future of Humanity Institute
Oxford Martin School
Oxford University