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Rethinking human enhancement as collective welfarism

Nature Human Behaviour volume 3, pages 204–206 (2019)Cite this article

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Human enhancement technologies are opening tremendous opportunities but also challenges to the core of what it means to be human. We argue that the goal of human enhancement should be to enhance quality of life and well-being not only of individuals but also of the communities they inhabit.

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Acknowledgements

The Wellcome Centre for Ethics and Humanities is supported by a Wellcome Centre Grant (203132/Z/16/Z). J.S., through his involvement with the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, received funding through from the Victorian State Government through the Operational Infrastructure Support (OIS) Program. D.B. thanks the Brocher Foundation. S.S. thanks the Branco Weiss Fellowship of the Society in Science. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish or preparation of the manuscript.

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Author notes

  1. These authors contributed equally: Daphne Bavelier, Julian Savulescu.

  2. These authors jointly supervised this work: Simone Schürle, John R. Beard.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Brain and Learning Laboratory, FPSE, Université de Genève, Geneva, Switzerland

    Daphne Bavelier

  2. Campus Biotech, Geneva, Switzerland

    Daphne Bavelier

  3. The Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK

    Julian Savulescu

  4. Distinguished Visiting International Professorship in Law, University of Melbourne, & Visiting Professorial Fellow in Biomedical Ethics, Murdoch Childrens Research Institute, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

    Julian Savulescu

  5. Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA

    Linda P. Fried

  6. Center for Genetic Therapies, San Diego School of Medicine, University of California, San Diego, CA, USA

    Theodore Friedmann

  7. AnthroTronix, Inc, Silver Spring, MD, USA

    Corinna E. Lathan

  8. Institute of Translational Medicine, Department of Health Science & Technology, ETH Zurich, Switzerland

    Simone Schürle

  9. School of Public Health, University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

    John R. Beard

Authors
  1. Daphne Bavelier
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  2. Julian Savulescu
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  3. Linda P. Fried
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  4. Theodore Friedmann
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  5. Corinna E. Lathan
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  6. Simone Schürle
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  7. John R. Beard
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Daphne Bavelier.

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Bavelier, D., Savulescu, J., Fried, L.P. et al. Rethinking human enhancement as collective welfarism. Nat Hum Behav 3, 204–206 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-019-0545-2

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