January 12, 2015
NanoEthics (Volume 8, Issue 3, December 2014) is now available online by subscription only. Articles include: “Ethical issues in cyborg technology: diversity and inclusion” by Enno Park ‘Human Enhancement’? It’s all about ‘body modification’! Why we should replace the term ‘human … Read More
December 25, 2014
Neuroethics (Volume 7, No. 3, December 2014) is now available online by subscription only. Articles include: “What to Enhance: Behaviour, Emotion or Disposition?” by Karim Jebari “Defining Moral Enhancement: A Clarificatory Taxonomy” by Kasper Raus, et al “Moral Enhancement and Self Subversion … Read More
November 26, 2014
(Phys.org) – What do pacemakers, prosthetic limbs, Iron Man and flu vaccines all have in common? They are examples of an old idea that’s been gaining in significance in the last several decades: transhumanism. The word denotes a set of … Read More
November 12, 2014
(Vox) – Scientists have been making amazing advances in bionic technology in recent years: robotic exoskeletons that help people walk, artificial eyes that help blind people see. Some of these technologies are meant as medical aids to help people regain function. … Read More
November 12, 2014
(National Journal) – Super strong mechanical appendages and brain implants are common fixtures of a science-fictional future. More and more, American veterans are arriving at that future before the rest of us. As a result of military-funded programs, vets are … Read More
November 7, 2014
The Journal for Medical Ethics (Vol. 40, No. 11, November 2014) is now available online by subscription only. Articles include: “In vitro eugenics” by Robert Sparrow “Some doubts about in vitro eugenics as a human enhancement technology” by Andrew W. Siegel … Read More
November 6, 2014
Bioethics (Vol. 28, No. 9, November 2014) is now available online by subscription only. Articles include: “When Intuition is Not Enough. Why the Principle of Procreative Beneficence Must Work Much Harder to Justify Its Eugenic Vision” by Rebecca Bennett “Reciprocity-Based Reasons … Read More
October 29, 2014
The Journal of Medicine & Philosophy (Volume 39, No. 5, October 2014) is now available online by subscription only. Articles include: “Flouting the demands of justice? physician participation in executions” by Adam Kadlac “Love as a regulative ideal in surrogate decision making” … Read More
October 23, 2014
(Business Insider) – Modern science fiction fans are not the only ones enthralled by the prospect of intelligent machines; the idea of intelligent robots has been a part of human culture since ancient times, going back to Greek mythology, and … Read More
October 21, 2014
(The Telegraph) – A growing cadre of innovators is taking things further, using replacement organs, robotic prosthetics and implants not to restore bodily functions but to alter or enhance them. When he lost his right eye in a shotgun accident … Read More
October 9, 2014
Public Understanding of Science (Vol. 23, No. 7, October 2014) is now available online by subscription only. Articles include: “Faith in Science in Globalization: Implications for Transhumanism” by John H. Evans “Religious Beliefs, Knowledge about Science and Attitudes toward Medical Genetics” by … Read More
September 15, 2014
(New Republic) – Oxford philosopher Nick Bostrom thinks we’re neglecting the biggest challenge that we as a species are likely to face this century: what to do when the machines take over. We already have artificially-intelligent machines that are “super-human” … Read More
September 1, 2014
(Slate) – Singularity. Posthuman. Techno-Optimism, Cyborgism. Humanity+. Immortalist. Machine intelligence. Biohacker. Robotopia. Life extension. Transhumanism. These are all terms thrown around trying to describe a future in which mind uploading, indefinite lifespans, artificial intelligence, and bionic augmentation may (and I … Read More
August 11, 2014
(The Economist) – Mr Bostrom is, sensibly, not interested in trying to predict exactly when such successes will translate into a machine that is generally intelligent—able to compete with, or surpass, humans in all mental tasks, from composing sonatas to … Read More
August 8, 2014
(Newsweek) – Women no longer give birth in Aldous Huxley’s classic Brave New World. Instead, surgically removed ovaries are fertilized then bred in artificial receptacles. That was all pulled out of Huxley’s imagination with the help of LSD, but he … Read More
June 20, 2014
(The Guardian) – Fantasies of human enhancement have a long history, from early myths about supernormal strength and eternal life to 20th-century comic superheroes: Superman, Batman, Spider-Man and their many emulators. While early attempts to achieve superpowers in real life – … Read More
June 12, 2014
(NPR) – How is it that we define a human? Is it our body? Our genome? Our behaviors? Our self-awareness? Our compassion? Our minds? All of these and then something more? What now may be obvious to most people about … Read More
May 12, 2014
(The Atlantic) – Hawking, along with MIT physics professor Max Tegmark, Nobel laureate Frank Wilczek, and Berkeley computer science professor Stuart Russell ran a terrifying op-ed a couple weeks ago in The Huffington Post under the staid headline “Transcending Complacency … Read More
April 28, 2014
(The Daily Beast) – Transcendence, starring Johnny Depp, is the latest in a series of Hollywood films with what you might call a transhumanist flair. Other recent movies exploring the symbiosis of man and machine and our relationship with technology include the Robocop remake and … Read More
April 18, 2014
(Time) – Sure, it’s easy to dismiss people who think they can somehow cheat death with a laptop. But Terasem is a potent symbol of a modern way of life where the digital world and the emotional one have become … Read More
April 4, 2014
(The Telegraph) – The first Cybathlon, an Olympics for robot assisted parathletes, will take place in Switzerland in October 2016. For people with disabilities who are using advanced technologies – robotic limbs or brain-computer interfaces – to compete. The “Transhumanists” … Read More
March 17, 2014
(Slate) – A good kids’ book delivers knowledge fundamental to living in the world, such as the (now apparently out of print) classic Everyone Poops. But Death Is Wrong, a new children’s title from transhumanist author Gennady Stolyarov, can only … Read More
March 3, 2014
(Huffington Post) – Transhumanists are people who desire to use science and technology to improve the human being. While the international movement of transhumanism is rapidly growing and diversifying, its most important goal remains the same: overcoming human mortality. Many … Read More
February 24, 2014
(The Guardian) – Ray Kurzweil popularised the Teminator-like moment he called the ‘singularity’, when artificial intelligence overtakes human thinking. But now the man who hopes to be immortal is involved in the very same quest – on behalf of the … Read More
February 24, 2014
(Scientific American) – The so-called “STEM†fields—science, technology, engineering and mathematics—are often grouped together in discussions of education policy or curriculum. But a group of students and faculty at Brown University, the Rhode Island School of Design (R.I.S.D.) and Massachusetts … Read More
