One Day There May Be a Drug to Turbocharge the Brain. Who Should Get It?
April 2, 2019
(New York Times) – But what happens if scientists get unstuck? What if a drug that enhances cognition really were possible? Eric Juengst, the director of the University of North Carolina Center for Bioethics, has been thinking about these questions for two decades — back when such drugs were little more than thought experiments. We tend to think of drugs that enhance performance — say, sports doping — as bad. Drugs that cure or prevent diseases are good. “The scientific community and the public all draw that line,” said Dr. Juengst. When it comes to Klotho, there may be no such line. In theory, such a drug might offer both a way to prevent diseases of the brain and to enhance it.