The ‘man a machine’ and nanorobots: a human rights-based and bioethical perspective
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.12795/IETSCIENTIA.2022.i01.05Keywords:
Nanorobots, Human Dignity, Identity, Physical and mental integrity, Right to enjoy the benefits of scientific progress, Right to health, Man a Machine, Post-humanism, TranshumanismAbstract
Nanorobotics is one of the most advanced and promising frontiers of technological and scientific progress. In particular, the use of nanorobots in the medical fields is growingly showing its potential for treating such common and serious diseases as hematologic and neurodegenerative disorders and cancer. However, since nanorobots modify the human body and alter its biological functions, their applications raise important bioethical and legal issues. The purpose of this study is to analyse the compatibility of the use of nanorobots in medicine with the principles of bioethics, especially human dignity, and with the right to identity and the right to physical and mental integrity, including from a genetic perspective. Moreover, this paper theorizes and suggests that the therapeutic use of nanorobots falls within the scope of the right to health and of the right to enjoy the benefits of scientific progress.
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