A Constitutional Right to Use Thought-Enhancing Technology
Marc Jonathan Blitz · Oxford University Press eBooks · 2016
Free speech law allows us to enhance our thinking with language and various forms of artistic expression. We might, for example, enhance our memories with note taking or enhance our mental operations with instructional videos or computer games. Should constitutional protection for cognitive enhancement go further to cover medical technologies we use to enhance our thinking? Focusing on American constitutional law, this chapter argues that it should. To be sure, unlike the realm of language, where erroneous or noxious beliefs and opinions are tolerated, the realm of medicine is one where the state cannot permit untrammeled experimentation and error. But the U.S. Constitution’s protection for our mental autonomy does not simply vanish in environments where government must closely monitor and regulate activity in the interest of health and safety. It does and should instead take a form that is compatible with such health and safety protection.