Nootropics and stuff

That's exactly what I wrote. The effect on social inequality depends firstly on whether they're expensive (like private education) or cheap (like caffeine). And whether the degree of enhancement is the same but results in a diverse spread of ability at a higher range or whether the degree of enhancement takes everyone up to a biological optimum resulting in a greater homogeneity of ability. That was my last essay! I now have a 20k word dissertation to finish next year. I've decided against an LLM and am going straight into a PhD after that. jude

I am a big fan of enhancement mainly because whilst the nootropics have limited application in healthy subjects but can be extremely effective in those with brain dysfunction. I attribute my ability to study effectively, despite having significant brain damage, to my nootropic regime. My dissertation is on the ethics of the 2007 revised Mental Health Act. I need to come up with a cool title (which must include a colon!) like "For their own Safety: Beneficent Tyranny in the Mental Health Act". jude

"The outcome is purely a matter of speculation and opinion." That is true but no more true than any other area of bioethics. Bioethics puts scientific progress (actual and theoretical)into a philosophical framework. A lot of it *is* pointless insofar as theoretical ethics is disregarded in favour of public opinion and too many people 'feel all funny about it' ... That doesn't detract from the importance of theoretical ethics imo. For example, I think people have an irrational objection to GM and I feel it is the duty of bioethicists and scientists to re-educate people.

I think both camps over-state their position. GM is not going to feed the world - that is an economic and political issue - but that doesn't mean to say GM doesn't have its uses. The objection to gene-spliced foods has some merit but is also ideological, bordering on the religious. Religious people themselves often wield the objection that genetic manipulation involves ‘tampering with God's creation', secularists say 'tampering with nature' yet there is very little, if any philosophical difference between genetic manipulation and any of the other forms of manipulation that have been employed (as Enzo points out) ever since homo sapiens stopped being hunter-gatherers and became farmers who ‘tampered' by domesticating plants and animals. Endowing the gene with sacred status and inviolability is a form of idolatry. The survival of a variant that, had it occurred by natural means, would almost certainly have died out again is nothing new. Many domestic pets and cultivated plants would never have survived without human intervention. The challenge is one of balance. I think there exist some real pressing concerns. V-Gurt technology remains rightly banned as we cannot rule out the possibility of contamination as well as the moral case against. But having tomatoes that take longer to rot is something far more benign. When I say re-educating people about GM, I don't mean bringing them round to a particular point of view. In the twenty-first century narrative, genes are not only innate but are also essences and do not simply cause behavior and characteristics but constitute identity. This essentialism is totally misinformed ...the human genome, due to its uniqueness in individuals, has become the modern conception of the human soul and is revered as such. This arises from a flawed understanding of genetics and developmental biology. In particular, newspapers often carry stories which misinform their readership that scientists have discovered the gene for some specific thing such as a certain type of cancer, predisposition to alcoholism or tendency to homosexuality. These reports often further distil terminology by using phrases like ‘the breast cancer gene', ‘the genes for alcoholism' or ‘the gay gene'. This terminology is very misleading because it fails to convey the complexity of the role of genetic factors in causal explanations of human behavior. Strictly speaking, genes code for proteins, they do not directly code for any bounded piece of morphology or behaviour. If people understood this, we might be able to move them beyond the 'yuck' factor. jude

"Pollen" was better! I have the original Ringpull Press eds in Vurt and Pollen signed by Jeff Noon! jude

Pixel Juice was excellent as was Nymphomation. I didn't rate "Falling out of Cars" much either but it has left an impression on me. I think it was a case of fantastic prose let down by a weak plot. I think it all went wrong for Mr. Noon when he left Manchester to live in Brighton. Swapping guns and vindaloo for pavilions and organic tofu bars may be good for a person's insurance premiums but takes the grit from the nitty gritty. Noon's writing was moved by 'spirit of place' ... his writing was poetic, prophetic and pioneering but was given credence by its real Mancunian roots. jude