LIBRI DI ANTONIO MATURO

Le apps per il self-tracking sono sempre più diffuse nella popolazione. Il Quantified Self si è dimostrato molto utile per innescare cambiamenti di comportamenti e abitudini con conseguenze positive per la salute. Inoltre, attraverso uno smart phone i dati biometrici possono essere condivisi nel cloud e trasmessi ai medici. Le pratiche connesse alla salute digitale possono aumentare l’empowerment del paziente e ridurre le spese sanitarie. Tra i punti deboli, questa tendenza può ridurre l’importanza dei determinanti di salute, concepisce un individuo fittiziamente isolato e autonomo e può dar vita a stigmatizzazione di coloro che non condividono i propri dati sui social.

The convergence between mobile communication and medical devices opens new perspectives for health care. Nowadays, individuals have astonishing opportunities to monitor themselves taking accurate measurements and therefore producing myriad of data (quantified self). Moreover, the data can be shared on social media or/and with the health-care complex. This can lead to huge savings on health expenditures. However, as it is shown in the FDA Guidance on Mobile Medical Applications, the app can also bring risks, because of the low health literacy of lay people. Moreover, it can also be shown that the quantified self "ideology" considers individuals fully responsible for their health. This neoliberal fashion brackets the importance of social determinants of health.

Accanto a forme tradizionali di dipendenza chimica o da sostanze, si stanno sviluppando alcune dipendenze collegate alla ripetitività compulsiva di comportamenti normali: il gioco, lo sport, il lavoro, l’alimentazione, i legami. Il volume traccia per ogni dipendenza un breve profilo storico, esamina i principali approcci teorici, riporta eventuali ricerche qualitative e quantitative, mette in rilievo le dimensioni più propriamente sociali e segnala gli strumenti terapeutici più utilizzati.

Human enhancement, or the use of biomedical technology to improve human performance in a variety of spheres, is taking medicine into new terrain. Rather than treating the sick, human enhancement involves creating what has been called the “bionic society”. In such a society human nature is transformed by biomedical technology, with significant consequences. This volume examines and provides a sociological analysis of this increasingly important development.

The use of substances that improve cognitive abilities is now more and more common in many countries. These treatments are not aimed at curing pathologies, but rather at enhancing normal human capabilities, i.e., people are using pharmaceutical products to alter their biological makeup. The following article investigates this phenomenon and questions the role of the State in relation to this practice. The article concludes with an explanation of why the State, unlike what some bioethicists have proposed, should not support the use of cognitive enhancers.

The use of substances that improve cognitive abilities is now more and more common in many countries. These treatments are not aimed at curing pathologies, but rather at enhancing normal human capabilities, i.e. people are using pharmaceutical products to alter their biological makeup. The following article investigates this phenomenon and questions the role of the State in relation to this practice. The article concludes with an explanation of why the State, unlike what some bioethicists have proposed, should not support the use of cognitive enhancers.