Big Data and Armed Conflict: Legal Issues Above and Below the Armed Conflict Threshold - Hardcover

by Laura A. Dickinson Edward Berg (Author), Ahmed Mohammed (Editor), Wayne Hall (Editor)

There has been much recent excitement amongst neuroscientists and ethicists about the possibility of using drugs, as well as other technologies, to enhance cognition in healthy individuals. This excitement has arisen from recent advances in neuroscientific technologies such as drugs that increase alertness and wakefulness in healthy individuals or technologies that can stimulate activity in different parts of the brain - either via the scalp or via electrodes - raising the possibility of producing cognitive and affective improvements in otherwise healthy individuals. Despite this growing interest, there are conflicting views on the ethics of cognitive enhancement. Some argue that enhancement is not only an ethical pursuit but one that we have a moral obligation to pursue. Others are more skeptical about the ethical implications and long term effects of cognitive enhancement. Some neuroscientists argue that use of stimulants as putative enhancers will lead to misuse, abuse and
addiction in some users, and might have undesirable long-term consequences.

Author Biography

Laura A. Dickinson is the Oswald Symister Colclough Research Professor and Professor of Law at George Washington University. Her work addresses national security, human rights, and international humanitarian law. She has authored numerous articles in leading law reviews, including the American Journal of International Law and the Southern California Law Review. Her prize-winning book, Outsourcing War and Peace, outlines a framework to protect public values in an era of privatization. She has served as Special Counsel to the General Counsel of the U.S. Department of Defense and as a senior policy adviser at the U.S. Department of State.