I recently commented on the Nature editorial that made a case for “the responsible use of cognitive-enhancing drugs by the healthy.” The writers of the editorial, a distinguished group of academics, had noted that artificial “cognition enhancement” could boost the performance and productivity of many workers: “From assembly line workers to surgeons, many different kinds of employee may benefit from enhancement and want access to it.”

In a posting today, the law professor Frank Pasquale takes the next logical step, offering a modest proposal for also allowing the use of “cognition-dulling drugs” by the healthy. Pasquale notes that for many types of contemporary jobs, particularly those involving repetitive computer work, “a relentless focus on well-defined tasks can offer a real competitive edge in today’s economy.” Many of the people employed in such jobs, Pasquale writes, “may experience moments of imagination or reverie positively, as exemplary thought rather than distracting consolation. For those individuals, the next goal of an autonomy-enhancing bioethics should be the development and widespread use of cognition-dulling drugs, which serve to blot out all awareness except of the task at hand. Cures for resentment, envy, or union-organizing may also serve to enhance workplace efficiency.”

“Like the happy inhabitants of [Aldous] Huxley’s Island,” writes Pasquale, “both cognition-enhancers and cognition-dullers can work together peaceably in a mutualism that discourages conflict.” Expanding on the judicious recommendations of the Nature writers, Pasquale concludes that “the key … is to carefully consider how best to develop a pharmacopeia that safely and effectively cures tendencies to insubordination, daydreaming, dissatisfaction, and other inefficient habits.”

(See also this paper by Pasquale.)