TransVision 2014 - Anders Sandberg, "What is a fair distribution of brains?"
Channel: Association Française Transhumaniste
Date: 2014-11-24

In a postindustrial economy useful individual abilities - human capital - are increasingly important both individually and to society. But acquiring human capital is a slow, expensive process of education and training. It can be lost through the processes of ageing or made obsolete as the world changes ever faster. People also vary in their mental abilities, which has significant effects on life outcomes. Biomedical cognitive enhancement may allow better acquisition and retention of mental ability. How would such improvement affect social equality? Being able to buy better brains would benefit more well-off people and give them a competitive advantage, but less sharp people could benefit more from enhancement than brighter people, and the network effects of a smarter society might benefit everyone. This talk will explore the interaction between how different groups might benefit or lose out from different forms of enhancement, and how justice intersects with designer neuroscience.