With the Olympic competitions heating up, the debates on enhancement, sport, and the human form have more than left the starting blocks in the newspapers and online. Personally, I can’t muster up more than a review of what’s been written as I’m less than convinced that there are any really interesting ethical issues here to talk about.
Andy Miah’s commentary in the Washington Post
argues that enhancement is great, but that steroids are not. Huh? In the New York Times, John Tierney says that if we can’t test for enhancing drugs, we might as well “let the games be doped”. Jonathan Moreno never really stakes a claim, but his Science Progress piece reminds us that progressives care about enhancement too, or at least know how to talk about it over sandwiches, liberal-style. Jere Longman and Gina Kolata, also in the Times, advance the claim that better technology, not better humans, is the reason why records are being shattered in Beijing.
Anyone else have a comment about enhancement? As for me, I’m going back to just enjoying watching the struggle, the thrill of victory, and leaving it to someone else to care whether the ancient Greeks are rolling over in their graves at the events of the 2008 Olympics.
Summer Johnson, PhD