Krystal Gallagher

            In Our Posthuman Future by Francis Fukuyama, there are many questions raised regarding where society and human nature are headed.  One of the most poignant points he makes is in terms of neuropharmacology.  Fukuyama brings up the concept of “cosmetic pharmacology.”  This cosmetic pharmacology means that drugs are no longer taken for their therapeutic value but to make people feel “better than good” (p.46).  This poses a threat to humans in that neuropharmacology has the ability to take away from the human spirit.  Will the human spirit be lost as a result of neuropharmacology and drugs becoming more socially acceptable and more widely used?  

            Fukuyama believes that with drugs being more widely used to solve problems such as low self esteem or hyperactivity, humans are being pushed more towards an androgynous being where women are able to take a pill to give them more of an alpha-male feeling and little boys take a pill so they are better able to sit still in class (p.52).  But as the genders begin to collide and form this androgynous personality where there is little distinction between male and female, is there also a loss of human spirit?  When do these drugs overstep the boundaries of aiding people and bring them into the realm of formulating entirely new people?

            In an article by Morton Kaplan reviewing Our Posthuman Future, he states, “Human nature is not something that exists apart from its existential participation in an environment.  Our nature is shaped by our experience and our reading of history (Kaplan).”  The human spirit should go along with this presumption, but the fear that Fukuyama has that people will be driven towards the same personality through neuropharmacology dispels Kaplan’s theory.  People will still be subject to different environments, but they will have the same emotions and same reactions to similar things if they are taking drugs to make them like everybody else.  In this society in particular there is an ideal that people should be unique and “different” than everyone else, but if this were the case, there would not be so many people that are ostracized and singled out.  The truth is that this society embraces similarity and conformity, which drives those that are different to find a way to become the prototype, usually taking drugs to help boost them to what society deems desirable.  People will no longer have feelings of their own, they will display feelings that society expects.  If this is what is to happen, the human spirit cannot have its own place because everyone will be the same.  The essence of the human spirit is individuality and with so many drugs being formulated to create a consistency in human behavior, the human spirit is being threatened towards nonexistence.

            In another review of Fukuyama’s book, Brian C. Anderson discusses the possibility of drugs being tailor-made in order to cease negative side effects.  With this possibility comes an even bigger threat to the human spirit.  If there are no repercussions to taking pills that will make you more socially desirable, people will take pills with disregard.  They will no longer care about their own personality becoming distorted and lost by taking the drugs; they will only care about becoming socially acceptable to others.  People will not care about what they enjoy or dislike, everything will be controlled by the need to fit in since it is so easy by just taking a pill.  Anderson says, “Many will feel that it is senseless ever to be unhappy or angry or ashamed again, once simply popping a pill can safely get rid of unpleasant emotions.  But a world without these kinds of emotions would no longer be fully human (Anderson).”  Anderson understands the fallacy in thinking a drug or a mixture of drugs can make you a better, more desirable person.  The drugs will control your emotions and who you are.  You will no longer be a human; you will be an emotionless, empty body.  The human spirit is what drives people.  It is what makes this world what it is.  If there is no emotion, there is no human spirit.  The human spirit is feeling.  It is what allows people to feel compassion for those that are suffering, it is what gives people the drive to succeed and make a difference, it is what makes us human.  To take all this away would be to get rid of spirit of humans, the ability to feel and act accordingly to these feelings.  If we do not have our human spirit, we are no more sophisticated than animals.

            Fukuyama explores many possibilities for the future, but the one that he touches on that is most striking is that of neuropharmacology.  The advances in neuropharmacology undoubtedly has its benefits in helping people that suffer from depression and so forth, but it comes at a cost to human nature.  As more people take drugs to help them feel “better than good (p.46),” the medical/therapeutic use of the drug is outweighed by the social benefits of using a drug to make them feel exactly how they want to feel at a particular point in time.  George Scialabba writes in his review of Our Posthuman Future, “Conservatives worry that opportunity for self-discipline and character development may be lost.  Liberals worry that real-world causes of happiness and restlessness may be obscured.”  People will no longer have to seek out ways to find enjoyment when they can have the ease of getting it in a pill.  The human spirit will be lost and people will not even recognize that everything they feel is because of a pill and not out of real emotion.  This is the biggest threat neuropharmacology poses to society, taking away the human spirit, causing us to live in a world where nothing matters because there is no feeling for it or in it.

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