A Right to Transhumanity?
Like any good science fiction, the transhumanist narrative about the future can teach us about
problems we face today. My talk will explore what this fantasy can tell us about the propriety of
proposals (most notably Fukuyama's) to restrict access to biomedical enhancement technologies.
I will use transhumanist speculation about brain-computer integration as a thought experiment
to demonstrate the potential for enhancement technologies to implicate personal choices within
the zone of privacy and autonomy protected by the US Constitution. If the Constitution would
constrain efforts to restrict access to radical enhancement technologies like brain-computer
interfaces, might the same be true with respect to existing enhancement technologies, or
enhancements that may soon become available? If so, what are the implications for proposals to
limit access to enhancements? Is regulation the most effective way to address the serious moral
concerns raised by enhancement technologies?