Neuroenhancement: between hope and hype

The term ‘neuroenhancement’ refers to the enhancement of brain functions, mostly with technological or pharmacological means. Over the past few years, scientific and societal interest in possibilities of developing so-called ‘smart drugs’ has increased. This raises a number of questions. First, questions about how realistic the hopes for cognition improving medication really are. Will we be able to develop drugs that make us smarter, or is it mainly a hype? Second, if such drugs would be developed, would that be desirable? What kind of societal and ethical issues would that raise? Some of the issues that are dis…