Imagine a world where a pill could make you kinder, more empathetic, or less likely to harm others. Sounds utopian, right? This is the promise of moral bioenhancement (MBE), a new frontier in medical ethics that proposes using drugs, genetic engineering, or brain stimulation to improve our moral character. But beneath the surface lies a chilling question: could this technology be used to mould people into ideological drones, stripped of their autonomy and programmed to align with someone else's vision of "good"? The Daily Sceptic has raised alarms about MBE, suggesting it could be a tool to secretly make people "more agreeably Left-wing." Let's unpack this provocative idea and see why MBE is a path to a dystopian nightmare.
What is Moral Bioenhancement?
MBE involves biomedical interventions to enhance moral traits, like empathy, fairness, or altruism. Think oxytocin to boost trust, lithium to curb aggression, or even transcranial direct current stimulation to tweak your brain's decision-making. Proponents like Ingmar Persson and Julian Savulescu argue that MBE could save humanity from itself, preventing catastrophes like climate change by making us more cooperative or less violent. They see it as a moral duty, especially in a world where traditional methods like education haven't fully curbed our destructive tendencies.
But here's the rub: morality isn't a one-size-fits-all concept. Who decides what's moral? The scientists? The government? The cultural elite? Those with power to do it of course, the New World Order elites. Without a universal definition, MBE risks becoming a tool for those in power to enforce their version of right and wrong.
The Daily Sceptic's Warning
The Daily Sceptic has spotlighted MBE as a potential vehicle for ideological control. A 2025 post on X referenced a bioethicist's idea of engineering humans to be intolerant to meat to "save the planet," framing it as a step toward forcing progressive ideals on unsuspecting populations. While the academic literature doesn't explicitly advocate making people "Left-wing," the concern isn't baseless. Some scholars, like Parker Crutchfield, have suggested that if MBE were mandatory, it might be better administered covertly, without people knowing they're being "enhanced." This raises red flags: if morality can be tweaked without consent, what's to stop authorities from nudging us toward behaviours that align with their political goals, whether environmentalism, egalitarianism, or something else?
The Ethical Minefield
MBE's ethical challenges are daunting. First, there's the issue of autonomy. If you're given a pill that alters your moral compass without your knowledge, are you still you? Critics argue that MBE, especially if covert, violates the fundamental right to self-determination. Even voluntary MBE could erode free will if it rewires how you make moral choices.
Then there's the risk of oppression. Timothy Brown, in a 2021 essay, warned that MBE could silence marginalised groups by suppressing traits like anger or distrust, which are often vital for resisting injustice. Imagine a world where dissent is chemically subdued, leaving us docile and compliant with the status quo. This could easily serve a Left-wing agenda, or any agenda, depending on who controls the tech.
Finally, the lack of consensus on morality itself is a dealbreaker. As bioethicist Nicholas Agar points out, we don't even agree on what makes a behaviour "moral." Without clarity, MBE could become a tool to enforce culturally dominant values, whether they lean Left, Right, or elsewhere. The Daily Sceptic's fear of a Left-wing bias isn't far-fetched when you consider how often progressive ideals, like environmentalism, are tied to MBE proposals in the literature.
A Slippery Slope
The idea of covertly tweaking people's morals to align with a specific worldview, Left-wing or otherwise is a plausible misuse of the technology. History shows that science, from eugenics to lobotomies, can be twisted to serve power. MBE, with its promise of reshaping human behavior, is ripe for abuse.
The danger of MBE is that of eroding what makes us human: our ability to choose, to struggle, to define our own morality.