Russell Blackford

Russell Blackford PhD LLB, an attorney, science fiction author and critic, philosopher, and public intellectual, lives in Melbourne, Australia. Russell holds a Ph.D. in English literature from the University of Newcastle, and a Ph.D. in Philosophy from Monash University where he teaches in the School of Philosophy and Bioethics. Dr. Blackford serves as editor-in-chief of the IEET’s Journal of Evolution and Technology. He writes frequently on issues related to emerging technology, including the ethics and regulation of cloning, stem cell research, and human enhancement. His work has appeared in many magazines and journals, including Australian Law Review, Cosmos, Foundation, Journal of Law and Medicine, Journal of Popular Culture, Journal of Medical Ethics, Meanjin, Monash Bioethics Review, New York Review of Science Fiction, Quadrant, Science Fiction, Science Fiction Sudies, and Westerly. He has worked in labour relations and professional legal practice. Dr. Blackford blogs at Metamagician and the Hellfire Club.

Home Page |

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Blogs

Metamagician and the Hellfire Club

Apropos of the Guardian piece

Morality, with limits

Science Faction - last gig in Melbourne on this trip

Bestselling books from the Global Atheist Convention

Some footage of the Grayling/Blackford gig

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Books

50 Voices of Disbelief: Why We Are Atheists 50 Voices of Disbelief: Why We Are Atheists by eds. Udo Schuklenk and Russell Blackford (2009)

Times of Trouble (Book Three of Terminator 2: The New John Connor Chronicles) by Russell Blackford (2005)

An Evil Hour (Book Two of Terminator 2: The New John Connor Chronicles) by Russell Blackford (2005)

Dark Futures (Book One of Terminator 2: The New John Connor Chronicles) by Russell Blackford (2005)

Kong Reborn by Russell Blackford (2005)

Dark Futures by Russell Blackford (2002)

Strange Constellations : A History of Australian Science Fiction by Russell Blackford, Van Ikin, and Sean McMullen  (1999)

Hyperdreams: Damien Broderick’s Space/Time Fiction by Russell Blackford (1998)

Contrary Modes by Russell Blackford (1985)

Urban Fantasies by Russell Blackford (1985)

The Tempting of the Witch King (a fantasy novel) by Russell Blackford (1983)

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Articles

"Do Secularists Contribute to Social Divisiveness?"   Metamagician and the Hellfire Club  Mar 10, 2010

"Is religious freedom self-contradictory?"   Metamagician and the Hellfire Club  Feb 4, 2010

"Blame it on Nietzsche"   Metamagician and the Hellfire Club  Jan 27, 2010

"Does a child need both a mother and a father?"   Metamagician and the Hellfire Club  Jan 23, 2010

"Danger: Teleologist at work! Robert Wright’s “The Evolution of God”"   Metamagician and the Hellfire Club  Jan 19, 2010

"Implausibility, Transcendence, and Atheism"   Metamagician and the Hellfire Club  Jan 10, 2010

"Nietzsche and European Posthumanisms"   Journal of Evolution and Technology 21(1):i-iii  Jan 8, 2010

"Voicing Our Disbelief"   TPM  Jan 5, 2010

"On Singer and Radical Life Extension"   Sentient Developments  Dec 29, 2009

"What About the Children?"   Metamagician and the Hellfire Club  Dec 20, 2009

"Why Singer is Wrong About Radical Life Extension"   Journal of Medical Ethics 2009;35:747-752  Dec 11, 2009

"Evil and Me"   50 Voices of Disbelief  Nov 22, 2009

"Imagine No Religion"   50 Voices of Disbelief  Nov 9, 2009

"The Unconditional Love of Reality"   50 Voices of Disbelief  Nov 5, 2009

"The great accommodationism debate"   Metamagician and the Hellfire Club  Jun 20, 2009

"Killer robots in war"   Metamagician and the Hellfire Club  May 22, 2009

"Remembering Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein"   normblog  May 12, 2009

"X-Men Origins: Wolverine"     May 10, 2009

"Should Scientists Accomodate Religious Sensibilities?"   Metamagician and the Hellfire Club  Apr 28, 2009

"Choosing Between Possible Lives"   Metamagician and the Hellfire Club  Apr 9, 2009

"Why don’t they talk about defamation of science?"   Metamagician and the Hellfire Club  Feb 28, 2009

"The idiocy of “defamation of religion”"   Metamagician and the Hellfire Club  Feb 17, 2009

"On the Yes! statement by the Order of Cosmic Engineers"   Sentient Developments  Jan 24, 2009

"The Core Idea of Transhumanism"   Sentient Developments  Jan 22, 2009

"Where’s my alien civilisation?"   Sentient Developments  Jan 19, 2009

"This postmillennialism nonsense"   Metamagician and the Hellfire Club  Jan 12, 2009

"What about the children?!"   Metamagician and the Hellfire Club  Jan 7, 2009

"Transhumanist theology"   Metamagician and the Hellfire Club  Jul 24, 2008

"Pickering on transhumanism"   Metamagician and the Hellfire Club  Jul 15, 2008

"Hayles shadowboxes with transhumanism"   Metamagician and the Hellfire Club  Jul 5, 2008

"Dupuy’s “anti-humanism”"   Metamagician and the Hellfire Club  Jun 30, 2008

"Are transhumanists idol worshippers?"   Metamagician and the Hellfire Club  Jun 29, 2008

"On the Templeton Foundation’s “Engaging Transhumanism”"   Metamagician and the Hellfire Club  Jun 27, 2008

"Thoughts on art and nudity"   Metamagician and the Hellfire Club  Jun 9, 2008

"Hollywood versus the Mutants"   Metamagician and the Hellfire Club  May 31, 2008

"Same-sex marriages today, polygamous marriages tomorrow?"   Metamagician and the Hellfire Club  May 21, 2008

"Transhumanism still at the crossroads"   Metamagician and the Hellfire Club  Apr 22, 2008

"Do we want a truly liberal society?"   Metamagician and the Hellfire Club  Apr 14, 2008

"Fitna and freedom of speech"   Metamagician and the Hellfire Club  Apr 2, 2008

"Intelligent Design Movie Is Not for Heathens"   Metamagician and the Hellfire Club  Mar 22, 2008

"Religion and nanotechnology"   Metamagician and the Hellfire Club  Feb 17, 2008

"Genetics, ethics, and the state - revisited"   Metamagician and the Hellfire Club  Nov 11, 2007

"Shadows of the Endarkenment from Montreal"   Metamagician and the Hellfire Club  Nov 7, 2007

"Sex, Drugs, Death, and the Law"   Metamagician and the Hellfire Club  Sep 29, 2007

"Does science presuppose naturalism?"   Metamagician and the Hellfire Club  Sep 25, 2007

"Living with Darwin"   Metamagician and the Hellfire Club  Sep 21, 2007

"On free will and moral responsibility"   Metamagician and the Hellfire Club  Aug 6, 2007

"Saletan on Sandel and human perfection"   Metamagician and the Hellfire Club  Aug 1, 2007

"Consciousness emerges?"   Metamagician and the Hellfire Club  Jul 22, 2007

"Naturalistic pluralism and the challenge of human enhancement"   Metamagician and the Hellfire Club  Jun 16, 2007

"Why science has to fight an uphill battle"   Metamagician and the Hellfire Club  May 31, 2007

"Are there aliens out there? Don’t bet on it yet."   Metamagician and the Hellfire Club  Apr 29, 2007

"Improving on nature’s design"   Metamagician and the Hellfire Club  Apr 17, 2007

"Prolegomena to any defence of human enhancement"   Metamagician and the Hellfire Club  Apr 1, 2007

"Reproductive cloning and slippery slope arguments"   Metamagician and the Hellfire Club  Mar 23, 2007

"Mameli defends reproductive technologies"   Metamagician and the Hellfire Club  Mar 10, 2007

"Utilitarianism, “total-view” thinking, and human life extension"   Metamagician and the Hellfire Club  Mar 9, 2007

"Dawkins, religion, and public policy"   Metamagician and the Hellfire Club  Mar 1, 2007

"Why we don’t need a genetic bill of rights"   Metamagician and the Hellfire Club  Feb 25, 2007

"What’s so dystopian about the Biotech Age?"   Metamagician and the Hellfire Club  Feb 15, 2007

"Huffington Post on enhancement and transhumanism"   Metamagician and the Hellfire Club  Feb 2, 2007

"Kids, clones, and rights"   Metamagician and the Hellfire Club  Jan 30, 2007

"Fenton to Habermas and bio-cons:  Human nature is not fixed"   Metamagician and the Hellfire Club  Jan 27, 2007

"The genetic fallacy fallacy"   Metamagician and the Hellfire Club  Jan 26, 2007

"Meta-ethics and the human future"   Metamagician and the Hellfire Club  Jan 14, 2007

"The burden of global misery - let’s actually do something"   Metamagician and the Hellfire Club  Jan 6, 2007

"Rational relativism, vulgar relativism, and the naturalistic worldview"   Metamagician and the Hellfire Club  Jan 5, 2007

"More on moral relativism"   Metamagician and the Hellfire Club  Dec 30, 2006

"On cyborg citzenship - where I have a problem"   Metamagician and the Hellfire Club  Dec 3, 2006

"The Humean argument against objectivism"   Metamagician and the Hellfire Club  Nov 30, 2006

"Lee Silver’s new book Challenging Nature"   Metamagician and the Hellfire Club  Nov 25, 2006

"Human enhancement and the religious worldview"   Metamagician and the Hellfire Club  Nov 21, 2006

"Why do bad ideas persist?"   Metamagician and the Hellfire Club  Nov 16, 2006

"Declining fertility is good news"   Metamagician and the Hellfire Club  Oct 18, 2006

"Technological threats to affective communication"   Metamagician and the Hellfire Club  Oct 3, 2006

"Towards a better debate on emerging technologies"   Metamagician and the Hellfire Club  Aug 3, 2006

"Supping with Leviathan - emerging biotechnologies and the state"   Metamagician and the Hellfire Club  Jul 26, 2006

"Genetic enhancement and the point of social equality"   Metamagician and the Hellfire Club  Jul 20, 2006

"Change Human Nature for Our Descendents"   Metamagician and the Hellfire Club  Jun 16, 2006

"Anti-aging, again"   Metamagician and the Hellfire Club  May 24, 2006

"Why not push beyond the boundaries?"   Metamagician and the Hellfire Club  May 19, 2006

"Genetic chimeras - and why give a damn about morality?"   Metamagician and the Hellfire Club  May 15, 2006

"Arguing about biological immortality"   Metamagician and the Hellfire Club  May 7, 2006

"Lock up your nubile daughter!"   Metamagician and the Hellfire Club  Apr 30, 2006

"Why I’m not afraid of the future"   Metamagician and the Hellfire Club  Apr 18, 2006

"Stem cell research on other worlds, or why embryos do not have a right to life"   Journal of Medical Ethics  Mar 1, 2006

"Proteus, meet Leviathan:  just where are the moral limits?"   Ethical Technology  May 1, 2005

"The Myth of Human Dignity"   Betterhumans  Apr 24, 2005

"The Supposed Sin of Defying Nature: Part Two"   BetterHumans  Jan 26, 2005

"The Supposed Sin of Defying Nature: Part One"   BetterHumans  Jan 19, 2005

"Reading the Ruined Cities"   Science Fiction Studies  Dec 27, 2004

"Transhumanism at the Crossroads"   BetterHumans  Oct 15, 2004

"Should We Fear Death? Epicurean and Modern Arguments"   The Scientific Conquest of Death: Essays on Infinite Lifespans  Oct 14, 2004

"It’s Okay to Change Your Mind"   Betterhumans  Jul 22, 2004

"We Can Flourish as More than Human"   Betterhumans  Jun 15, 2004

"Who’s Afraid of the Brave New World?"   Quadrant  May 14, 2003

"Mutants, cyborgs, AI & Androids"   Meanjin, 63(1):14-9   Mar 1, 2003

"The Supposed Rights of the Fetus"   Quadrant  Nov 14, 2002