So we haven't quite made up our minds yet about when it's right and when it's wrong to use the tools of medicine to enhance who we are.

Stereoids to win sports wrong. A nose job to be more beautiful? Apparently not wrong.

But what about chemicals that help students be better students?

Well, we know that drugs like riddlein and aderol and medaphanil which were designed as therapy for people who had trouble focusing or staying awake are being taken by students now not because they suffer from those actual deficits but because they believe it gives them a competitive edge in the classroom that it makes them quote unquote smarter.

And is that right or is it wrong? Well, that sounds like the makings of a debate. So let's have it. Yes or no to this statement college students should be allowed to take smart drugs.

A debate from intelligent squared us. We are here at the George Washington University in partnership with fire. The foundation for individual rights in education with four superbly qualified debaters who will argue for and against this motion college students should be allowed to take smart drugs as always our debate goes in three rounds and then our live audience here at the Jack Morton Auditorium at George Washington University votes to choose the winner and only one side wins.

Our motion again is college students should be allowed to take smart drugs. Let's meet the team arguing for the motion. Please first welcome. Anjan Chatterjee.

Anjan you are a professor at you pens parallelman school of medicine and chair of neurology at Pennsylvania hospital. You see patients mostly patients who have cognitive disorders but you also do research on the issue before us questions of neuro ethics and neuro aesthetics and we're wondering do you think that there's a day for you as a clinician.

When you will be prescribing drugs routinely smart drugs to students as part of your routine practice well it certainly could come to that my students used to think that I was crazy for hassling with insurance companies and that what I should do is open a boutique cosmetic neurology clinic in a fancy part of town plans for that.

Let's see how it goes all right. Ladies and gentlemen Anjan Chatterjee.

Anjan please tell us who your partner is by partner is the much smarter than any drug professor Nita Farahani. Ladies and gentlemen Nita Farahani.

Nita you are a professor of law and a professor of philosophy at Duke where you are also director of the Duke science and society program you're arguing for the motion.

College students should be allowed to take smart drugs but it's interesting to note that Duke came up with a ruling that the quote unauthorized use of prescription medicine to enhance academic performance unquote is cheating under its student code of conduct.

Do you see other universities following suit now I certainly hope not without forth thought Duke adopted this really ill conceived policy instead of leading the way on being a college that empower students to make choices about this issue for themselves.

So maybe they'll be listening tonight. I hope so. Ladies and gentlemen the team arguing for the motion that college students should be allowed to take smart drugs and we have two debaters arguing against the motion.

Please ladies and gentlemen welcome Eric Racine.

Eric welcome you are director of the Neuroethics research unit at IRCM and you hold academic appointments at the University of Montreal and McGill Neuroethics.

So relatively new area of study and in fact it didn't exist at your research group before you arrived there in 2006 can you tell us in a sentence what neuroethics is.

Sure very briefly neuroethics is a new interdisciplinary field which studies ethical questions associated with neuroscience so it's right on topic for tonight.

Absolutely and tell us who your partner is my partner is the amazing philosopher Nicole Vincent.

Ladies and gentlemen Nicole Vincent and Nicole you are also arguing against the motion college students should be allowed to take drugs your professor of philosophy and law and neuroscience at Georgia state for several years you let a research project focused on cognitive enhancement and moral and legal responsibility in a related TED talk in your native Australia.

You started off by asking the audience that if there were a pill that could make everyone there more intelligent and smarter and more focused would they take it and the response was complete silence and then laughter was that a yes from the audience.

...