Can We Justify Military Enhancements? Some Yes, Most No.
Blake Hereth1, Nicholas Evans1
1University of Massachusetts, Lowell, Massachusetts01854, USA.
Summary
The Department of Defense seeks to enhance military personnel, but ethical concerns and regulatory gaps hinder progress. A "least-worst" approach is proposed to validate enhancements amid rising untested interventions.
Area of Science:
- Military medicine
- Bioethics
- Biomedical research ethics
Background:
- The US Department of Defense aims to enhance active military personnel due to recruitment challenges and evolving strategic needs.
- Ethical debates, historical abuses in military medical research, and new legislation complicate the development and testing of enhancements.
- Existing legal and regulatory frameworks for military biomedical research require reconciliation with ethical concerns regarding enhancements.
Purpose of the Study:
- To reconcile existing legal and regulatory frameworks on military biomedical research with ethical concerns about military enhancements.
- To critically evaluate common justifications for military enhancement innovation.
- To propose a justifiable framework for validating military enhancements.
Main Methods:
- Literature review of legal and regulatory frameworks governing military biomedical research.
- Ethical analysis of justifications for military enhancement.
- Examination of concerns regarding coercion and exploitation in military enhancement adoption.
Main Results:
- Two common justifications for rapid military innovation – compelling military need and strategic dominance – are found to be insufficient.
- Laissez-faire approaches to military enhancement are inadequate due to significant risks of coercion and exploitation.
- A 'least-worst' justification for validating potential enhancements is proposed.
Conclusions:
- Existing justifications for military enhancement are inadequate.
- Ethical considerations, including coercion and exploitation, must be paramount in military enhancement policies.
- A pragmatic approach is needed to address the rise of untested enhancements in military contexts.
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