Moral enhancement and cheapened achievement: Psychedelics, virtual reality and AI.
Bioethics March 1, 2025 Emma C Gordon, Katherine Cheung, Julian Savulescu et al. 8 citations
A common objection to cognitive or athletic enhancement is that using drugs or technologies to improve performance 'cheapens' the resulting achievement. This paper extends that objection to moral enhancement—using biotechnology to become a morally better person. The authors argue that if the cheapened-achievement objection holds for cognitive or athletic enhancement, it can also apply to some forms of moral enhancement, but not all. Highly speculative or determinative technologies might diminish the value of moral self-improvement. However, more practical forms—where drugs or technologies play an adjunctive or facilitative role, such as psychedelics in moral learning, 'Socratic AI,' or empathy enhancement via virtual reality—largely evade the objection, assuming those technologies work as intended. The most promising forms of moral enhancement thus avoid a leading critique of other enhancements.