Giulio reports: The Rathenau Institute is an independent organization that concerns itself with issues on the interface between science, technology and society, and that provides politicians with timely and well-considered information. The first issue of their print magazine Flux is now out, and PDF versions in Dutch and English of this and other publications are online and available for download (English version). The term ‘Flux’ represents a flow of inspiring ideas originating from science, technology, industry and society.
The first issue has a technology assessment section and three dossiers about climate, nanotechnology and human enhancement. It is always good to see our ideas on human enhancement discussed, and in positive terms, on a high profile science magazine. In ‘The lure of human enhancement’, the authors argue that as a result of developments in nano, bio, info and cognitive technology, human enhancement is no longer science fiction. The British author Nikolas Rose, a sociologist and Director of the bios centre (study of bioscience, biomedicine, biotechnology and society) at the London school of economics and Political science, who serves on the national council of bioethics and is head of the neuroscience and society network, contends that new biomedical technology is not only bringing about a change in our relationship with our own bodies, but also a change on the political scene. Fragments from the book ‘Reshaping the Human Condition’—Exploring Human Enhancement’ show that some scientists are of the opinion that our current medical thinking model—based on illness—is no longer adequate. Tech-nomad and Transhumanist Philippe van Nedervelde reveals that we have a long, dark road to follow before we definitively liberate ourselves from our biological limitations.
The book ‘Reshaping the Human Condition’—Exploring Human Enhancement’ with interviews and essays by leading Dutch and British scientists, including the IEET’s Nick Bostrom,gives an overview of the key directions in which modern science is pushing out the boundaries of what is possible in the field of human enhancement. The British ambassador to the Netherlands says about the book: ‘The human drive to better ourselves is nothing new. But what is new today is the rapidly expanding range of possibilities for human enhancement that contemporary science now offers’. This is basic common sense for transhumanists, and it is good to see our ideas echoed and discussed in the political scene.
A great launch for a new science magazine, interesting and useful for scientists, engineers, policy makers and citizens, which now has at least one more and I hope many more regular readers.
IEET Blog