THIS CONFERENCE IS FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
http://www.humanenhance.com/conference.html
Human Enhancement & Nanotechnology Conference
March 28-29, 2009
Western Michigan University, Fetzer Center, Room 2020 Kalamazoo, MI USA
The Human Enhancement & Nanotechnology Conference focuses on the ethical, social, and related issues that arise in the application of nanotechnology to human enhancement. While nanotechnology is not the only technology that can be applied to human enhancement, it is and will be a core one; without it many current and future enhancements would not be possible. These technological possibilities will derive from many sources, especially nanoelectronics and nanomaterials.
As an example of an ethical issue, bionic limbs (e.g., for greater strength or vision) and neural chips implanted into one’s head (e.g., for on-demand access to the Internet and software applications) may give the individual significant advantages in many areas, from sports to jobs to academia. But these technologies may hold health risks—similar to steroid or Ritalin use for enhancement purposes, as distinct from therapy—as well as raise ethical concerns related to fairness, access, and general societal disruption. Therefore, it is no surprise that, on both sides of the debate, the ethics of human enhancement is believed to be the single most important issue in science & society in this century.
Who?
The conference will offer presentations by leading researchers and rising stars in the field:
The conference is organized by faculty at California Polytechnic State Univ., Dartmouth College, Univ. of Delaware, and Western Michigan University. It is supported by funding from Western Michigan Univ. as well as the US National Science Foundation, under NSF awards # 0620694 and 0621021, as well as Delaware NSF-EPSCoR grant # EPS-0447610.
Registration
The conference is free to attend and includes continental breakfasts, lunches, and a good supply of coffee and snacks (to enhance our minds and bodies), but seats are limited; so please register early by completing the following form.
Saturday, March 28
8:45-9:30a - Registration and continental breakfast
9:30-9:45a - Introduction by Fritz Allhoff
9:45-10:30a - Rebecca Roache (Oxford): “Ethics, Speculation, and Values”
10:30-11:15a - Ted Peters (Pacific Lutheran Theo. Sem.): “Are We Playing God When Making Super Humans?”
11:15a-12:00p - Nicole Hassoun (Carnegie Mellon): “Nanotechnology, Enhancement, and Human Nature”
12:00:-1:00p - Lunch
1:00-1:45p - Linda MacDonald-Glenn (Albany School of Medicine): “Not Just a Pretty Face: Legal and Ethical Issues in Regenerative Nanomedicine”
1:45-2:30p - Richard Robeson (Univ. of North Carolina, Chapel Hill): “Parallax: The Blind Spot Created by the Therapy vs. Enhancement Dichotomy in Sports Ethics”
2:30-3:15p - Daniel Moore (IBM): “Human Enhancement & Military”
3:15-3:45p - Break
3:45-4:30p - Tihamer Toth-Fejel (General Dynamics): “Nanotechnology and Productive Nanosystems for the U.S. Military: Progress and Implications”
4:30-5:15p - Colin Allen (Indiana Univ.): “Goggles vs. Implants: Why Cognitive Nanoethics Just Ain’t in the Head”
5:15-6:00p - Wendell Wallach (Yale): “Public Policy and Human Enhancement: When should new technologies be embraced and when should they be rejected or regulated?”
Sunday, March 29
8:45-9:30a - Continental breakfast
9:30-10:15a - Sean Hays (Arizona State Univ.): “Nietzsche and the Philosophical Underpinnings of Human Enhancement”
10:15-11:00a - Carlos Melendez (Michigan State Univ.): “Looking Forward to Enhancement: Ethical Thinking Before It’s Too Late”
11:00-11:15a - Break
11:15-12:00p - Ron Sandler (Northeastern Univ.): “Enhancing Justice?”
12:00-12:45p - James Hughes (Trinity College): “Technoprogressive Policies to Ensure Enhancement Technologies are Safe and Accessible”
12:45-1:00p - Closing remarks
1:00p - Optional Lunch
Dr. Hughes will speak on “Technoprogressive Policies to Ensure Enhancement Technologies are Safe and Accessible”
Abstract: The coming years will require replacing the therapy/enhancement categories that guide the innovation and regulation of enabling biotechnologies with a new model of quality of life, capabilities and enablement. The profound social benefits from therapies to slow aging or enhance cognition, for instance, will be limited if federal research priorities and insurance coverage remain restricted to “therapies.” The aggressive use of transgenic animals and in-silico modeling will both accelerate innovation of enabling therapies, and facilitate the more rapid progress of the therapies to human trials. Open source alternatives to traditional clinical trials based on telemedical monitoring and data mining can expand access to experimental enabling drugs and devices. Safety and access will also require vigilant “technocitizenship,” ensuring that regulatory agencies are well financed and politically independent, and that there is universal healthcare access.
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