AJOB Neuroscience最新文献

By 2050, the United States' military anticipates being able to biomedically enhance the warfighting capacities of soldiers. These enhancements are highly invasive, and not only to the body. They are also highly invasive to the person. With these enhancements, super soldiers may lose control of their bodies and minds, sacrificing their autonomy. They could continue to sacrifice after discharge from the military. The memories of the experiences of being enhanced persist, which may continue to undermine the veteran super soldier's autonomy. This extraordinary sacrifice requires extraordinary reciprocity. I argue that one method of providing an appropriate reciprocal return is to provide veteran super soldiers with memory manipulating technologies (MMT). An antecedent requirement is thus that the military pursue research in optogenetic MMTs alongside other optogenetic research. There are numerous objections to the use of MMTs, but their administration to veteran super soldiers can evade and overcome these objections.

Biotechnological enhancements for military personnel arouse scrutiny, beyond the ethics of experimental research and due care during operational service, to the eventual return to a civilian life. Reversal of enhancements-by withdrawal, extraction, deactivation, modification, destruction, etc.-will be just as experimental and consequential. Super soldiering may not smoothly transition to ordinary habilitation and lifestyle. Complete reversions of dramatic augmentations, such as prosthetics or brain-computer interfacing, could be more damaging to the person than the initial installation. Partial reversions would be just as perplexing, as discharged personnel retain workable technology to prevent disability while other careers next beckon for a suitably empowered individual. Either way, all such biotechnological enhancements must be treated as ethical and social experiments having both positive and negative potential outcomes. Life stages of technologically modified military personnel require special ethical consideration beyond the lifecycle of the technology itself. The post-enhancement veteran is a largely unexplored area, and we propose that these civilian "supra-soldiers" will become a cohort of increasing interest, requiring continued care and ethical support. To that end, we suggest a system of guidelines to ensure ethically sound support for those who serve, and have served, in national defense.

Anticipated by science fiction, the enhanced soldier crystallized in the United States at the dawn of the 21st century within the Pentagon's scientific agency, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). Fueled by the fear of being overtaken by the enemy, and then by its own technology, this agency's new vision produced a "bifurcation" within anthropotechnics: the modification of humans for war. The soldier is now at the heart of a process of radical innovation, with as yet unknown implications. Emblematic of this enhancement, the use of the brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) will not only expose the soldier to previously unknown psychocognitive and emotional effects, but also offer the enemy potential access to his/her inner self. By giving birth to a new kind of veteran, this hybridization will generate new responsibilities for military commanders and politicians, as well as a new type of care.

As military institutions explore the use of enhancement technologies to improve combat readiness and operational effectiveness, critical ethical and policy questions emerge about the long-term consequences of these interventions. This paper examines the reintegration challenges facing enhanced veterans-those who undergo cognitive, neurological, genetic, or physiological modifications during service-and explores the military's obligations to support their post-service lives. We analyze how enhancements, though often framed as temporary or mission-specific, may result in lasting changes to cognition, emotion, and identity that complicate veterans' ability to rejoin civilian life. Drawing from military ethics, bioethics, and neuroethics literature, we examine issues of autonomy, informed consent, and structural coercion within the hierarchical nature of military service. We argue that enhancement may not only exacerbate existing barriers to healthcare, employment, and social belonging but also generate novel forms of stigma and challenge existing systems of support. To address these challenges, we recommend policy interventions including the establishment of an enhanced veteran registry, expanded research funding, and the development of tailored long-term care strategies. We conclude that protecting the rights and dignity of enhanced service members requires proactive ethical and institutional planning-before, during, and long after their time in uniform.

Human brain organoids (HBOs) are three-dimensional structures derived from human pluripotent stem cells that model aspects of fetal brain development. As HBO models grow more complex, ethical concerns arise, particularly around the potential for consciousness. Defining and detecting consciousness in HBOs remains unresolved, with existing theories offering conflicting predictions. This systematic review examines how consciousness is conceptualized in the ethical and philosophical literature concerning HBOs. We selected peer-reviewed publications written in English from 2013 onward that directly address consciousness regarding HBOs. After screening 51 sources, 24 were analysed in themes: Consciousness Terminology, Biological Limitations, Theories of Consciousness, Detecting Consciousness, Comparisons with Conscious Entities, and Special Entities. Uncertainty about consciousness in general complicates the conversation around HBOs. Clear communication is essential to avoid misconceptions, and future research may benefit from focusing on organoid intelligence as a more tractable concept.