May 5, 2017
(The Conversation) – Neuralink – which is “developing ultra high bandwidth brain-machine interfaces to connect humans and computers” – is probably a bad idea. If you understand the science behind it, and that’s what you wanted to hear, you can … Read More
April 28, 2017
(Inc) – Humans are forgetful; we need calendar reminders, notepads, schedules, and assistants. But the co-creator of Siri, Apple’s digital assistant, says artificial intelligence technology could make forgetting an archaic problem of the past. Tom Gruber, the AI guru and … Read More
April 26, 2017
Science and Engineering Ethics (vol. 23, no. 2, 2017) is available online by subscription only. Articles include: “CRISPR and the Rebirth of Synthetic Biology” by Raheleh Heidari, David Martin Shaw, and Bernice Simone Elger “Autonomy and Fear of Synthetic Biology: How Can Patients’ Autonomy Be Enhanced … Read More
April 19, 2017
(Nature) – A protein found in young human blood plasma can improve brain function in old mice. The finding, published on 19 April in Nature, is the first time a human protein has been shown to have this effect. It’s … Read More
April 19, 2017
(The Guardian) – Many transhumanists such as Kurzweil contend that they are carrying on the legacy of the Enlightenment – that theirs is a philosophy grounded in reason and empiricism, even if they do lapse occasionally into metaphysical language about … Read More
April 17, 2017
(MIT Technology Review) – Let’s be clear. No one is trying to grow an astronaut in a bubbling vat somewhere. But some far-out ideas once relegated to science fiction and TED Talks have recently started to take concrete form. Experiments … Read More
April 14, 2017
(The Atlantic) – Holdouts who fear that gene editing is putting humanity on a slippery slope to disaster or who have religious objections to the technique or who just prefer “the old-fashioned way” in their gut will conceive a child. … Read More
April 5, 2017
(Canadian Broadcasting Co) – Imagine a pill that could make you a more “moral” person. Would you take it? Today, leading scientists are debating the ethics of just that — a pill that improves morality. In recent years, research has shown drugs widely … Read More
April 4, 2017
(The Conversation) – How closely will we live with the technology we use in the future? How will it change us? And how close is “close”? Ghost in the Shell imagines a futuristic, hi-tech but grimy and ghetto-ridden Japanese metropolis … Read More
April 4, 2017
(ABC News) – The syringe slides in between the thumb and index finger. Then, with a click, a microchip is injected in the employee’s hand. Another “cyborg” is created. What could pass for a dystopian vision of the workplace is … Read More
March 31, 2017
(The Guardian) – Growing numbers of middle-aged men are turning to anabolic steroids to make themselves look and feel more youthful and boost their sexual performance, experts say. People who work with users have raised concern about a new trend … Read More
March 28, 2017
(STAT News) – Tech billionaire Elon Musk is announcing a new venture called Neuralink focused on linking brains to computers. The company plans to develop brain implants that can treat neural disorders — and that may one day be powerful … Read More
March 27, 2017
(Wired) – As surgeon and author Atul Gawande explains in Being Mortal, funding improvements in palliative care—making people in extreme pain or at the end of their life more comfortable—would much more meaningfully address the problem of death. You make … Read More
March 24, 2017
(Wired) – Parrish tried two therapies. One was a myostatin inhibitor, a drug designed to increase muscle mass, and the second was telomerase therapy, which lengthens the telomeres, a part of the chromosomes that protect genetic material from damage and … Read More
March 22, 2017
(The Atlantic) -For professional chess players, though, medicinal “neuro-enhancement” (as it’s sometimes dubiously known) could bring in somewhere between 6 and 15 percent more wins. That’s according to the first large study of “highly skilled tournament chess players” comparing their … Read More
March 20, 2017
(New York Post) – Imagine a world where parents can give birth to superbabies with bones so strong they’re impervious to a surgical drill and a heart less prone to failure. A world where a child has DNA from three … Read More
March 17, 2017
(Wired) – Moon Ribas can feel earthquakes. Thanks to a small vibrating sensor embedded above her elbow, the Barcelona-based artist can immediately detect seismic activity – no matter where she is in the world. “I knew that, with technology, I … Read More
March 13, 2017
(Mescape) – Trying to lend our brains a little more power is as societally entrenched as a morning cup of coffee. Yet in recent years, the quest for new ways of achieving this has become considerably more intense. Led by … Read More
March 8, 2017
(Science Blog) – How do highly complex cognitive processes change when we take pharmacological substances? Is it possible to enhance these processes by using substances such as the CNS stimulant methylphenidate or the wakefulness promoter modafinil, or do these actually … Read More
March 7, 2017
(Undark) – What if technology could set us free from our own mortal bodies? If there were a way to expand our mental and physical beings beyond the limitations we were born with? If we could harness science to morph … Read More
March 3, 2017
Bioethics (vol. 31, no. 3, 2017) is available online by subscription only. Articles include: “Conscientious Objection to Vaccination” by Steve Clarke, Alberto Giubilini and Mary Jean Walker “Doctors Have no Right to Refuse Medical Assistance in Dying, Abortion or Contraception” … Read More
March 2, 2017
(NPR) – “Flesh is a dead format,” writes Mark O’Connell in To Be a Machine, his new nonfiction book about the contemporary transhumanist movement. It’s an alarming statement, but don’t kill the messenger: As he’s eager to explain early in … Read More
March 2, 2017
(Australian Broadcasting Co) – Arguably one of the first forms of enhancement was through improving their diet. The phrase “an army marches on its stomach” goes back at least to Napoleon, and speaks to the belief that being well fed … Read More
February 24, 2017
(Australia Broadcasting Co) – Can transhumanists, biohackers and grinders live forever? The answer is maybe soon — at least according to them. Ok. So what’s a transhumanist? Like some scientists, they believe that ageing is a disease, and they are … Read More
February 23, 2017
(NPR) – The human species is about to change dramatically. That’s the argument Yuval Noah Harari makes in his new book, Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow. Harari is a history professor at Hebrew University in Israel. He tells … Read More
