There’s two kinds of people asking me about the economy lately: people with money wanting to know how to keep it “safe,” and people without money, wanting to know how to keep safe, themselves. Maybe it’s the difference between those two concerns that best explains the underlying nature of today’s fiscal crisis.
Sorry ladies, the male birth control pill is not about you
by George DvorskyThere’s been considerable media attention surrounding a recent breakthrough in the development of a male birth-control pill (MBCP).
The Shifgrethor of Changelings
by Athena Andreadis“Maybe there are only two sexes: men and mothers.” Alice Sheldon, writing as James Tiptree Jr. to Joanna Russ
The Past and Future of Evolution
I (J. Hughes) just returned from a wonderful conference on the history and future of the theory of evolution.
Hughes Talk on H+ & Religion top-rated at Thoughtware.tv
To toot my own horn, one of my favorite talks in recent memory was one I gave to the Templeton folks on the compatibility of religion and transhumanism. Andres put it up on Thoughtware.tv, and he wrote to let me know that it has been their top-rated talk there. Listen to it here. The slides associated with that talk are here, and the paper is here.
Russell’s new book project, Voices of Disbelief
IEET Fellow and JET Editor Russell Blackford writes: Udo Schuklenk and I will be co-editing a book, provisionally entitled Voices of Disbelief, which will contain 50 to 60 relatively short essays by prominent people explaining why they are not religious believers - why they don’t accept the existence of the Abrahamic God, or subscribe to other religious doctrines.
Do we want a truly liberal society?
by Russell BlackfordThe goal of a liberal society puts obligations on its citizens, that we practice reasonableness and openness to ideas, that we do not just tolerate one another but support one another to our fullest flourishing. A liberal society is not neutral about values like disease and health, sloth and effort, deceit and integrity, cowardice and courage. There are excellences that citizens of a liberal society must promote to survive. [Discuss this article in IEET Fora]
The Ethics of Designer Children
by Mike PolyakovIn the last two decades, our rapidly developing biotechnology has brought us into the realm of human genetic engineering. We are now able to not only screen for many diseases and a few genetic characteristics, but are on the verge of being able to select characteristics of a child.
Fitna and freedom of speech
by Russell BlackfordA controversial (apparently) Dutch parliamentarian, Geert Wilders, has recently released a short film, Fitna, which has been interpreted as a warning against the Islamisation of Europe - and is, on any interpretation, an attack on the content of the Koran.
I’ve delayed commenting until I found some time to watch Fitna. I’ve now seen it.
The Other Half
by Mike TrederChina is often depicted by the traditional media as a nation with a booming economy, a thriving middle class, and an unlimited future. We’re led to expect that it soon will become the world’s unchallenged economic and geopolitical superpower.
Intelligent Design Movie Is Not for Heathens
by Russell BlackfordFor all I know, Ben Stein may be Apollo’s gift to the professions of acting and gameshow hosting, and to some of the other odd activities that have come his way from time to time in a long career that’s more varied than the Galapagos finches.
Postgenderism: Beyond the Gender Binary (IEET White Paper 03)
by George DvorskyAn IEET White Paper by By George Dvorsky and James Hughes.
This essay is forthcoming in an edited book on gender and reproductive technologies, but in a shorter, revised form. So we wanted to share this IEET White Paper version with our readership for comment and improvement that we can use in revising the book chapter.
Abstract: Postgenderism is an extrapolation of ways that technology is eroding the biological, psychological and social role of gender, and an argument for why the erosion of binary gender will be liberatory. Postgenderists argue that gender is an arbitrary and unnecessary limitation on human potential, and foresee the elimination of involuntary biological and psychological gendering in the human species through the application of neurotechnology, biotechnology and reproductive technologies. Postgenderists contend that dyadic gender roles and sexual dimorphisms are generally to the detriment of individuals and society. Assisted reproduction will make it possible for individuals of any sex to reproduce in any combinations they choose, with or without “mothers” and “fathers,” and artificial wombs will make biological wombs unnecessary for reproduction. Greater biological fluidity and psychological androgyny will allow future persons to explore both masculine and feminine aspects of personality. Postgenderists do not call for the end of all gender traits, or universal androgyny, but rather that those traits become a matter of choice. Bodies and personalities in our postgender future will no longer be constrained and circumscribed by gendered traits, but enriched by their use in the palette of diverse self-expression.
Download the Complete Document (PDF)
Brain-Computer Interfaces for Manipulating Dreams
by Michael AnissimovA first-generation commercial brain-computer interface (BCI) is being released by Emotiv Systems later this year. What does the future hold for BCI?
Ashley X’s Parents Declare Treatment a Success
In January of 2007 the IEET suddenly doubled its web viewage, and the phones rang off the hook.
President’s Council on Bioethics Publishes Bostrom on Posthuman Dignity
The latest volume from the President’s Council (and hopefully the last), Human Dignity and Bioethics, (Full Document PDF) includes a chapter by Nick Bostrom on “Dignity and Enhancement” (PDF)
Popular Arguments For and Against Longevity
by George DvorskyJeriaska at the Future Current blog continues his service by transcribing the talks given at the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies’ “Securing the Longevity Dividend” seminar in Chicago July 23, 2007. At that seminar the IEET’s George Dvorsky gave this talk on popular arguments for and against radical life extension.
Facing the Quasi-Autonomous Robot Monsters Under The Bed
by Anne Corwin“Autonomous robots” have some people very spooked. But what does it mean to be an autonomous, decision-making entity in the first place?
Is Wage Labor Becoming Obsolete?
by Edward MillerA majority of unskilled jobs are completely unnecessary even with current technology. We are already very much a Robotic Nation
Smart Policy: Cognitive Enhancement in the Public Interest
by Nick BostromRecommendations
• Conceptualize pharmacological cognitive enhancers as part of a wider spectrum of ways of enhancing the cognitive performance of groups and individuals.
• Expand the disease-focused regulatory framework for drug approval into a health- or wellbeing-focused framework in order to facilitate the development and use of pharmaceutical cognitive enhancement of healthy adult individuals.
• Provide public funding for academic research into the safety and efficacy of cognitive enhancers, for the development of improved enhancers, and for epidemiological studies of the broader effects of long-term use.
• Increase public funding for research aimed at determining optimal nutrition for pregnant women and newborns to promote brain development.
• Disseminate information to the public about optimal pre- and perinatal nutrition.
Religion and nanotechnology
by Russell BlackfordNow this story is really weird. Apparently, most Americans reject the morality of nanotechnology on religious grounds.
A Universally Valid Ethical Directive
by Sean HendersonIn a modern society, we live according to a social contract that is supported by a legal-rational authority. Underlying our legal-rational authority are cultural theories about the universal and over-riding desires of those within that society. These cultural theories can be supplanted by scientifically validated truths about fundamental human nature in order to design a better society.
Latest from JET
is a peer-reviewed electronic journal published by the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies, and edited by IEET Fellow Dr. Russell Blackford. The first two articles of Volume 17 have been published.
No Singing Allowed: Assumptions and Other Nonsense
by Anne CorwinThis week, an autistic sixth-grader in San Jose was handcuffed and suspended for singing during a physical education class. No, I’m not making this up...you can read the news story yourself.
The Rights of Those We Create
by Sean HendersonThose of us alive today have many rights that are protected by society - yet we as a society do not largely provide the same degree of consideration to the protection/creation of procreational rights for those we create. As biological beings we have many motivational factors which prompt us to procreate in specific ways - these motivational factors conflict with the imperative to procreate ethically. We have a moral responsibility to deal with our own procreational motivations in such a way that we do not infringe upon the rights of those we create.
Heather writes on UK Repro Rights
IEET Intern Heather Bradshaw has published an article in the UK newsletter BioNews on
“Why it should not be illegal to implant ‘abnormal’ embryos.”
Poll: When we can change sexual orientation….
Wow. I did not expect this result. Only 17% of you think control over sexual orientation will result in Western societies becoming straighter.
Facebook, the Pub and the Singularity
by Giulio PriscoTake a look at this anti-progress hate piece!
“Techno-Doping” and the New Olympics
by Jamais CascioOscar Pistorius, AKA “Blade Runner”—the South African sprinter who uses carbon fiber prosthetics in place of the lower legs amputated as a child—has officially lost his bid to run in the 2008 Olympics.
Future Problem Solver Presentations on Neurotechnology
On January 9th I helped the Connecticut Future Problem Solvers organize a morning seminar for more than 200 students, grades 5-12, and their teachers on neurotechnology.
Structuring a Decentralized World
by Edward MillerIEET Intern Edward Miller argues that we can have a more democratic world by embracing the decentralizing and liberatory potentials of open source or P2P approaches to biotechnology and informatics.
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