IEET Life News http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/life Promoting life extension, the longevity dividend, technological enablement, artificial organs, stem cells and the right to choose when and if you die. http://ieet.org/images/ieet.jpg Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/life Promoting the ethical use of technology to expand human capacities en director@ieet.org Copyright 2008 2008-05-15T18:53:00-05:00 Kristi Scott Bionic Athletes stepping out of the debate and in to action http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/scott20080515/ http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/scott20080515/#When:13:40:00Z I’ve been fascinated with the growth in public awareness recently regarding bionic athletes. It’s very interesting to watch something go from fringe and then mainstream. Almost a year ago, an article by Jamais Casico made me take a real look at what it is to be bionic when he talked about his cochlear implant The Accidental Cyborg. Since then, I’ve had a heightened awareness and intrigue for the topic. 

]]> Life > Enablement > Interns > Kristi Scott]]> ]]> 2008-05-15T13:40:00-05:00 Michael Anissimov Dr. Pinker Lays the Smackdown on Leon Kass http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/anissimov20080513/ http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/anissimov20080513/#When:12:30:00Z Leon Kass, the scientific community frowns on your deathist shenanigans and paternalistic tomfoolery.  We will continue to denounce your anti-freedom, control-freak bioethical views until the day your theocon allies are booted out of the White House, which will occur on January 20, 2009.  Enjoy your eight months.

]]> Rights > FreeThought > Life > Contributors > Michael Anissimov]]> ]]> 2008-05-14T12:30:00-05:00 Mike LaTorra Is life a gift? http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/latorra20080514/ http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/latorra20080514/#When:12:22:00Z Harvard’s Michael Sandel argues in his book The Case Against Perfection: Ethics in the Age of Genetic Engineering that life is a gift and that we should accept the unbidden nature of this gift, working toward acceptance and solidarity with others rather than seeking unbridled mastery over human biology.  But is life properly viewed as a gift?

]]> Rights > FreeThought > Life > Directors > Mike LaTorra]]> ]]> 2008-05-14T12:22:00-05:00 21st Century Kids http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/csr20080503/ http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/csr20080503/#When:00:24:03Z Shannon Vyff is author of 21st Century Kids, an SF novel for kids. We talk about futurism, cryonics, social justice, calorie restriction, talking to kids about death, and teaching transhumanism in the Unitarian Universalist Sunday School program. (MP3)

]]> Life > Vision > Bioculture > Futurism > J. Hughes > CSR]]> http://www.archive.org/download/Csr21stCenturyKids/0503vyff.mp3]]> 2008-05-05T00:24:03-05:00 Jamais Cascio Remaking the Athlete, Remaking the Culture http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/cascio20080504/ http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/cascio20080504/#When:01:54:03Z Discussions of the implications of the augmentation of our biological bodies with prosthetic technologies can be found quite readily in the esoteric discourses of self-described transhumanists, social theorists and bioethicists.

]]> Life > Enablement > Fellows > Jamais Cascio]]> ]]> 2008-05-03T01:54:03-05:00 Andy Miah Engineering Greater Resilience or Radical Transhuman Enhancement? http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/miah20080501/ http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/miah20080501/#When:16:09:00Z Abstract: This article investigates the conceptual distinctions between therapy and various forms of human enhancement. It begins by proposing a typology of human enhancements in order to make more rigorous and grounded discussions about the distinction between therapy and enhancement. Three types of human enhancement are proposed: 1) engineering traits of accepted value, 2) engineering traits of contested value and 3) radical transhuman enhancements. Subsequently, the paper explores the distinctions between the ethical justifications that are advanced for therapeutic interventions, comparing them with human enhancements, concluding that the salient characteristic of health-related suffering enables enhancement to gain legitimacy from the perspective of traditional medical ethics. Finally, the paper considers a number of practical obstructions to the realization of radical transhuman enhancements. Specifically, it discusses procedural obstacles to approving experimental medical research for human enhancements, the likely commercialization of human enhancements that would ensue from their development, and the need to develop experimental medical interventions via animal models.
Recommended Citation

Miah, Andy (2008) “Engineering Greater Resilience or Radical Transhuman Enhancement?,”

Available as PDF here after registration

]]> Life > Innovation > Enablement > Fellows > Andy Miah]]> ]]> 2008-05-01T16:09:00-05:00 Emerging Brain Plasticity Research http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/braintrain08/ http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/braintrain08/#When:13:32:00Z Scientists, with the help of Buddhist monks and the Dalai Lama, are unlocking mysteries of the brain.

]]> Life > Enablement > Vision > CyborgBuddha]]> http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4846933362481486227&hl=en]]> 2008-04-28T13:32:00-05:00 Athena Andreadis The Shifgrethor of Changelings http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/andreadis20080427/ http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/andreadis20080427/#When:21:40:00Z “Maybe there are only two sexes: men and mothers.” Alice Sheldon, writing as James Tiptree Jr. to Joanna Russ

]]> Rights > PostGender > Life > Enablement > Vision > Bioculture > Fellows > Athena Andreadis]]> ]]> 2008-04-27T21:40:00-05:00 Mike Treder Geoengineering: Go slow!  Carbon reduction: Hurry! http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/treder20080425/ http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/treder20080425/#When:17:33:01Z We need a crash development program for wind, solar, tidal, wave, geothermal - and possibly nuclear - energy infrastructures. Geo-engineering is too risky except as an absolute last resort.

]]> Security > Eco-gov > Life > Innovation > Fellows > Mike Treder]]> ]]> 2008-04-25T17:33:01-05:00 Cognitive Enhancement by Scientists http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/cebys08/ http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/cebys08/#When:18:53:00Z Everybody is atwitter about the survey results in Nature which showed that 20% of respondents, mostly scientists, had taken cognitive enhancement drugs other than caffeine.





I especially liked Io9’s coverage, ”62 Percent of Pill-Popping Scientists Use Ritalin” Almost half of the cognition enhancing minority had used modafanil (Provigil), and 80% of all respondents in the Nature poll thought people should be allowed to take cognitive enhancers. 

]]> Rights > Neuroethics > Life > Enablement]]> Io9 goes on to compare the good drugs that scientists are taking to think smarter and longer, to the lower quality (albeit more delicious) caffeine consumption of the hoi polloi.



]]> 2008-04-10T18:53:00-05:00