LONDON — Performance-boosting drugs, powered prostheses and wearable computers are coming to an office near you — but experts warned in a new report Wednesday that too little thought has been given to the implications of a superhuman workplace.

Academics from Britain’s leading institutions say attention needs to be focused on the consequences of technology which may one day allow — or compel — humans to work better, longer and harder. Here’s their list of upgrades that might make their way to campuses and cubicles in the next decade:

• Brain Boosters

Research suggests 16 percent of U.S. students already use “cognitive enhancers” such as Ritalin to help them with course loads. Pilots have long used amphetamines to stay alert. At least one study has suggested that the drug modafinil could help reduce the number of accidents by shift workers.

But bioethicist Jackie Leach Scully of northern England’s Newcastle University worries that the use of such drugs might focus on worker productivity over personal well-being.

• Wearable Computers

The researchers also noted so-called “life-logging” devices like Nike Inc.’s distance-tracking shoes or wearable computers such as the eyeglasses being developed by Google Inc. The shoes can record your every step; the eyeglasses everything you see. Such devices are said to be about 15 years from recording every sight, noise and movement of an entire human life. So do you accept if your boss gives you one?

• Bionic Limbs And Beyond

The report noted bionic limbs like the one used by amputee Zac Vawter to climb Chicago’s Willis Tower or exoskeletons like the one used by partially paralyzed London Marathon participant Claire Lomas. It also touched on the development of therapies aimed at sharpening eyesight or cochlear implants meant to enhance hearing.

Scully said any technology that could help disabled people re-enter the workforce should be welcomed but society needs to keep an eye out for unintended consequences.

• The Pressurized Workplace

Workers may come under pressure to try a new memory-boosting drug or buy the latest wearable computer.

“In a highly pressurized work environment, how free is the choice not to adopt such technologies?” she said.

Union representatives appeared taken aback by some of the experts’ predictions. One expressed particular disquiet at the possibility that long-distance truck drivers might be asked to take alertness drugs for safety.

“We would be very, very against anything like that,” said James Bower, a spokesman for Britain’s United Road Transport Union. “We can’t have a situation where a driver is told by his boss that he needs to put something in his body.”

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Online:

The report: http://royalsociety.org/policy/projects/human-enhancement

Raphael Satter can be reached on: http://raphae.li/twitter

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