Soldier Enhancement: Ethical and Strategic Consequences

• In Event: Poster Session: International Security II

Abstract

The prospect of soldier cognitive and biological enhancement is no longer science fiction, but a genuine prospect of contemporary warfare. What are the ethical dilemmas posed by altering human cognition and the body in warfare? Most of all, what are the security and strategic consequences of the perceived race for the “enhanced soldier” for democratic countries? This paper explores a variety of new technologies that have been proposed to enhance soldier biology and cognition beyond traditional drugs in war. Drawing upon just war thought as well as philosophy of mind, we probe the ethical implications of human-machine integration and propose a typology for military ethicists – especially within democratic regimes – to tackle these issues, in view of the strategic risk that this problem represents. Ultimately, our paper unpacks the ethical and strategic concerns of cognitive and biological enhancements proposed in the U.S. and French contexts, to understand how democracies are grappling with these ethical and strategic prospects.

Authors

• Pierre Bourgois, University of Bordeaux (France) / University of California, Irvine

• John R Emery, University of Oklahoma