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.
Bioethics
June 28, 2023
Vojin Rakić
8 citations
Psilocybin has direct effects on moral bio-enhancement and happiness, unlike non-psychedelic substances such as oxytocin or serotonin reuptake inhibitors, which only have indirect effects. Morality and happiness support each other in a circular relationship, and psilocybin amplifies both more directly than other substances. Its benefits for moral enhancement and happiness are further increased when combined with meditation under an experienced guide. Caution is advised, and proper dosage should be prescribed by a physician.
Bioethics
February 1, 2026
Vojin Rakić
Happiness, love, and morality form a triple circularly supportive relationship: love encourages prosocial behavior, which increases happiness, which in turn enhances moral action; conversely, happiness promotes prosocial behavior, which fosters loving relationships, which then motivate moral behavior toward loved ones. This self-reinforcing cycle can be deepened and sustained through careful use of love-enhancing substances, particularly the psychedelic psilocybin, aided by guided meditation. Humans are motivated to use love drugs because they increase happiness, making voluntary love-drug use a more effective means of moral bio-enhancement than compulsory prevention of ultimate harm.