Kevin LaGrandeur is Associate Professor of English at the New York Institute of Technology (NYIT), and Director of Technical Writing Programs. He began exploring the intersections between digital technology, culture, philosophy, and English studies in the early 1990's and was an early adopter of digital technology in the English classroom. Dr. LaGrandeur has written many articles and conference presentations on digital culture; Artificial Intelligence and ethics; and literature and science. His publications have appeared in journals such as Computers & Texts, Computers and the Humanities, and Science Fiction Studies; in books such as Eloquent Images: Word and Image in the Age of New Media; and in popular publications such as United Press International (UPI), where he recently published an Op-Ed piece on future protocols for developing Artificial Intelligence, called "The Mars Landing and Artificial Intelligence." His recent book on the premodern cultural history of AI is titled Androids and Intelligent Networks in Early Modern Literature and Culture (Routledge, 2012). His more recent conference presentations have been on transhumanism and the posthuman.
Dr. LaGrandeur has been awarded a variety of grants based on his work, including a Summer NEH grant to participate in a research seminar on computers and English Studies(1995), a fellowship from Hofstra University's Center for Teaching Excellence to develop a training course for faculty on computer-assisted instruction (1997), a software grant from the Daedalus Corporation to help develop computer-interactive writing courses at Hofstra University (1993-96), an NYIT/New York State DAV Grant (2001) to develop online course materials for Disabled Veterans, and an NYIT Center for Teaching and Learning with Technology Grant (2001-2002) to develop Web Design/Web Communication curriculum; he was also a participant in the NYIT/NY State Virtual Learning Space Grant (fall 2002) to help develop online training site for NY State teachers, and has been awarded several grants to work on the book mentioned above. He has been on the educational technology committees of two universities, spent two years as the chair of one of them, and was also on the educational technology grant review committee for NYIT.
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The Personhood Beyond the Human conference was organized by the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies, the Interdisciplinary Center for Bioethics at Yale University, Yale's Animal Ethics Group and Yale's Technology and Ethics Group.
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Abstract: Before deciding how to define and proceed with modern definitions of personhood beyond the human, it will help to see how personhood has been defined historically—especially with regard to several ancient androids, because in their day they presented the best case for individuals who might have had, by the time's definitions, the chance to be considered fully human. So this presentation will discuss the basic philosophical and legal standards applied to defining the existential status of two artificial androids, the golem and the homunculus, during the Middle Ages and Renaissance, when their creation was actually considered possible and often believed to be an accomplished fact. It will also show how the historical definition of personhood has generally coincided with Aristotle's notions, which he provides mainly to determine who is worthy of slavery. These sorts of historical stances on personhood are important because they show the difficult social precedents facing any redefinition of non-human personhood today.
Image: http://blogs.hbr.org/2013/01/three-elements-of-great-communication-according/
On December 7, 2013 IEET Fellow Kevin LaGrandeur spoke on "Ancient Definitions of Personhood and Difficult Social Precedents: The Homunculus, the Golem, and Aristotle" at the Personhood Beyond the Human conference at Yale University.
Kevin LaGrandeur is Associate Professor of English at the New York Institute of Technology (NYIT), and Director of Technical Writing Programs. He began exploring the intersections between digital technology, culture, philosophy, and English studies in the early 1990's and was an early adopter of digital technology in the English classroom. Dr. LaGrandeur has written many articles and conference presentations on digital culture; Artificial Intelligence and ethics; and literature and science. His publications have appeared in journals such as Computers & Texts, Computers and the Humanities, and Science Fiction Studies; in books such as Eloquent Images: Word and Image in the Age of New Media; and in popular publications such as United Press International (UPI), where he recently published an Op-Ed piece on future protocols for developing Artificial Intelligence, called "The Mars Landing and Artificial Intelligence." His recent book on the premodern cultural history of AI is titled Androids and Intelligent Networks in Early Modern Literature and Culture (Routledge, 2012). His more recent conference presentations have been on transhumanism and the posthuman.
Dr. LaGrandeur has been awarded a variety of grants based on his work, including a Summer NEH grant to participate in a research seminar on computers and English Studies(1995), a fellowship from Hofstra University's Center for Teaching Excellence to develop a training course for faculty on computer-assisted instruction (1997), a software grant from the Daedalus Corporation to help develop computer-interactive writing courses at Hofstra University (1993-96), an NYIT/New York State DAV Grant (2001) to develop online course materials for Disabled Veterans, and an NYIT Center for Teaching and Learning with Technology Grant (2001-2002) to develop Web Design/Web Communication curriculum; he was also a participant in the NYIT/NY State Virtual Learning Space Grant (fall 2002) to help develop online training site for NY State teachers, and has been awarded several grants to work on the book mentioned above. He has been on the educational technology committees of two universities, spent two years as the chair of one of them, and was also on the educational technology grant review committee for NYIT.
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The Personhood Beyond the Human conference was organized by the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies, the Interdisciplinary Center for Bioethics at Yale University, Yale's Animal Ethics Group and Yale's Technology and Ethics Group.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Abstract: Before deciding how to define and proceed with modern definitions of personhood beyond the human, it will help to see how personhood has been defined historically—especially with regard to several ancient androids, because in their day they presented the best case for individuals who might have had, by the time's definitions, the chance to be considered fully human. So this presentation will discuss the basic philosophical and legal standards applied to defining the existential status of two artificial androids, the golem and the homunculus, during the Middle Ages and Renaissance, when their creation was actually considered possible and often believed to be an accomplished fact. It will also show how the historical definition of personhood has generally coincided with Aristotle's notions, which he provides mainly to determine who is worthy of slavery. These sorts of historical stances on personhood are important because they show the difficult social precedents facing any redefinition of non-human personhood today.
Image: http://blogs.hbr.org/2013/01/three-elements-of-great-communication-according/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSV9Kcn5TLY