First World Forum on Science and Civilization:
Tomorrow’s People: the Challenges of Technologies for Life Extension and Enhancement
Oxford University, Oxford, UK
14-17 March 2006
http://www.martininstitute.ox.ac.uk/JMI/Forum2006/
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Click here to watch the presentations and participate in the discussion. through the webcast of this conference!
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This Forum is one of the most interesting forthcoming events, and going to Oxford is always a pleasure. The list of speakers and panellists includes some very well known futurists, technologists and transhumanists. The session topics include some of the real “big issues” facing humankind. The event is organized by the James Martin Institute (see also the websites of The James Martin 21st Century School and The Future of Humanity Institute).
The Forum will take a close look at what some characterise as the next stage of evolution: conscious efforts by human beings to reshape their inherited physical, cognitive and emotional identities by extending lifespan and enhancing human capacities. It will examine the range of technologies offering lives that purport to be longer, stronger, smarter and happier.
Leading scientists, scholars, business executives, policy makers, religious leaders and citizens will come together to explore what the promise of such technology means in different parts of the world, the implication for our ideas about what it means to be human, and whether and how such technology should be governed.
Session topics will include:
RADICAL EVOLUTION: what is it and what will it mean for humanity?
REGIONAL PERSPECTIVES: how are the prospects of radical human evolution viewed around the world?
LIVING LONGER? What are the prospects for radical life extension?
LIVING STRONGER? How will humans re-engineer the human body?
LIVING SMARTER? What are the implications of cognitive enhancement?
LIVING HAPPIER? What makes us happy and can it be bottled?
A FAIRER WORLD? What are the implications for human inequality?
THE MEANING OF HUMAN NATURE: what is natural about us and does it matter?
THE GOVERNANCE OF HUMAN TRANSFORMATION: is transformation a consumer choice or an imperative to exercise social responsibility?
SHAPING ALTERNATIVE FUTURES: can we choose our future?
The list of speakers and panellists is impressive.
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