Human performance enhancement - a future view
Publish date: 2019-01-22
Report number: FOI-R--4716--SE
Pages: 28
Written in: Swedish
Keywords:
- human performance enhancement
- human performance optimization
- ethics.
Abstract
War and conflict sometimes inflicts extreme demands on human performance. The future operating environment will change as technology develops with new as well as recurrent high demands on man. The development in technology and medicine has now reached a level which opens up for completely new opportunities to increase human performance. Human Performance Enhancement (HPE) is the collective name of a number of methods that have the potential to increase human performance beyond what is "normal". The area is broad and encompasses a variety of methods and technologies with varying degree of maturity. Some technologies are existing, while others are emerging and some can be classified as speculative. Interdisciplinary research, that is capable of generating useful solutions, is required in order to achieve acceptable products. Human manipulation will often raise questions about ethics. In the military perspective, ethical issues are discussed from a broad human rights perspective, both regarding humanitarian law and human rights. Public acceptance for HPE is expected to depend on purpose and use. The aim of this report is to describe the area in general, relate to commonly used definitions and concepts, and to highlight current research and technology. The next step will focus on the different aspects of human performance enhancement from the individual, organizational and social perspectives. The result will be a number of HPE-related scenarios for the 2050 horizon.