http://www.srcf.ucam.org/cuths/cognitive-enhancement/

Cambridge University Transhumanis Society Meeting - "Cognitive Enhancement"

Date and Time: Sunday, February 24, 2008 at 7:00pm local time (GMT)

Location: Samuel Butler Room, St. John's College, Cambridge, CB2 1TP, United Kingdom

Description:

The Cambridge University Transhumanist Society is most pleased to announce the second talk this term. Dr Anders Sandberg and Dr. Sharon Morein will be talking about Cognitive Enhancement.

The talks will be held at 7pm on Sunday, February 24th, in the Samuel Butler Room of St. John’s College. This is in first court - as soon as you walk through the great gate of St. John’s College, turn left. The SBR is right in front of you, in the corner of the court.

Many thanks go out to The SBR committe for letting us have this most excellent room!

Abstracts follow below:

Dr. Sharon Morein:

Drugs to improve cognition are needed to treat cognitive disabilities and improve quality of life for patients with neuropsychiatric disorders and brain injury. Pharmacological enhancement of cognition in both the young and
old healthy populations seems set to become increasingly popular, extending from dietary supplements to drugs specifically targeted at improving aspects of cognition. The effects of pharmacological substances on cognition are
complex, often limited in magnitude and the extension of enhancement from the controlled laboratory environment to daily life is controversial. Nevertheless, with a greater understanding of brain chemistry and the role of genetic variation, increasingly effective approaches are under development.

Dr. Anders Sandberg: "A Device for Turning Coffee into Theorems"

Cognition enhancing drugs such as caffeine and nicotine are in widespread use, and new pharmaceuticals appear to promise improved ways of staying awake, learning more, focusing and making careful decisions. Ethical concerns involve both safety (how do we develop and test such drugs), social issues (would they promote improductive competition, how would they affect inequalities), psychological issues (how is human authenticity influenced) and questions of the nature of humanity and human striving. I will discuss how some of these concerns fit with the issue of enhanced students and faculty. Perhaps the greatest challenge facing us is not enhancement but to figure out what the education of the future ought to be.