*witty blog post title*

When reading Nikolas, I was struck by the differing concepts behind medicine's role as a restorative (aka a return to the "normal") vs its role as an enhancer.

I will leave the socio-philosophical concept of the "normal" for others to discuss. Instead I want to look at some of the implications of medicine moving on from a restorative purpose, to an enhancing one.

Namely, the question arises, is this a good thing? I believe that it is. While the religious might argue that altering the human condition via science is blasphemy, or that we are infringing on the domain of god/s, I believe it is only a natural process of our evolution. As humans and science continue to grow, so too do we find new ways to enhance ourselves. Whether it is finding new medicines to extend our lifespan, or as Robin exemplified, putting plastic lenses in your eyes for 20/15 vision. I genuinely hope that science and medicine continue to make new breakthroughs that allow us to further improve our biology, and correct aspects of our biology that fail (schizophrenia, Alzheimer's, bad vision etc.)

However, let's look at this in the context of apotemnophilia. With this, and other situations like this, a difficult question arises. Should medicine be used in this way to "enhance" such an individual? I think it creates an important distinction in that, just because we can, it doesn't mean we necessarily should.

In conclusion I believe that medicine can and should continue along the path of "enhancement" that it is currently following. However, we must simultaneously understand that with this new territory comes new responsibility. As medicine and technology continue to progress and evolve, we must always be on the lookout for issues, and ensure that we are using our newfound technology responsibly.