A recent 20/20 episode described how a woman who suffered from a debilitating convulsive disorder was able to enjoy a normal and convulsive free life after a computer chip was implanted in her brain. The computer chip counteracts the uncontrolled nerve impulses that cause her convulsions. Other news articles regularly speak of technological developments that are beginning to allow the blind to see, the deaf to hear, and the lame to walk! What was once the realm of miracles is now becoming part of our daily lives through computer technology and the implanting of computer micro chips in the human brain.
This is only the beginning. Futurists are talking about a wide range of microchip implants from internal cell phones to Internet connections with our eyeballs as the monitor. It is difficult to see how Jordis visor, which allows the blind engineer to see as well as or better than his shipmates on the starship Enterprise presents any significant bio-ethical questions. We have been using prosthetics of one form or another for centuries. When we are using computer chips to radically change our ability to know the world around us or to restructure the way we think or experience reality, are we simply using prosthetics?
When computer technology enters the gray area of radically changing human nature then serious moral questions are raised.
