Performance Enhancement
Kathryn J. Friedlander · 2024
This chapter explores the ethical quandaries arising from attempts to enhance human performance, particularly where this affects cognition or the delivery of expert-level artistry. These might be argued to fall on a sliding scale of acceptability, depending upon whether the intervention is intended to address performance handicaps; to use conventional &s;hard graft&s; to enhance performance; or to fundamentally and rapidly alter human performance through the use of exotic stimulation, whether pharmaceutical or neuroscientific. Maintaining a balanced stance, the chapter explores the viewpoints arguing for and against enhancement techniques, anchoring the sometimes-philosophical debates to evidence in the psychological literature. Terms such as near/far-transfer are also defined and explored. Looking ahead, the chapter examines the intersection of Artificial Intelligence and human creative performance. It raises questions about the nature of human versus artificial intelligence and probes the human-machine interface across a wide range of expert performance fields such as medicine, music, film, STEM research, and art. Can a machine ever be truly &s;creative&s;? And will human expertise become redundant?