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Memory enhancement, IQ boosters and drugs designed to attack genetic weaknesses may increase competition in the future and create a playing field that is far from equal, scientists at the World Economic Forum said.
But alongside such ethically complex issues, other forms of human enhancement - organ replacement, drug therapy and genetic mapping - could make the difference between life and death as well.
As science edges closer to allowing parents to choose the gender of their child and drugs are able to dull or enhance memories, some on the sidelines of the annual meeting at the Swiss Alpine ski resort of Davos questioned Wednesday the economics of human enhancement and the ethics of progress.
"One of the big worries is over genetic discrimination," said Francis Collins, director of National Human Genome Research Institute in Bethesda, Maryland, and a leader on the Human Genome Project, a 13-year effort to identify the 20,000 to 25,000 genes in human DNA.
Within a decade, many common illnesses such as cancer are likely to be pinpointed according to their genetic variables, and some others...
But alongside such ethically complex issues, other forms of human enhancement - organ replacement, drug therapy and genetic mapping - could make the difference between life and death as well.
As science edges closer to allowing parents to choose the gender of their child and drugs are able to dull or enhance memories, some on the sidelines of the annual meeting at the Swiss Alpine ski resort of Davos questioned Wednesday the economics of human enhancement and the ethics of progress.
"One of the big worries is over genetic discrimination," said Francis Collins, director of National Human Genome Research Institute in Bethesda, Maryland, and a leader on the Human Genome Project, a 13-year effort to identify the 20,000 to 25,000 genes in human DNA.
Within a decade, many common illnesses such as cancer are likely to be pinpointed according to their genetic variables, and some others...