Bioengineering and the Future of Being Human
- The Amazing & Vulnerable Human
- Musculoskeletal and Neural Engineering
- Tissue and Genome Engineering
- Social Robotics and Artificial Intelligence
- Transhumanism and Quest for Transcendence
- Additional Reference Resources
RECOVERED LIFE
ENHANCED LIFE
ARTIFICIAL LIFE
The Amazing & Vulnerable Human
TO START: In this short talk, the Site Host shares his exclamation regarding humans both as amazing and vulnerable.
README: The video ‘The Scientific & Ethical Elements of Human Enhancement’ (Video #2) describes the use of biomedical technologies for human enhancement. Some think that we are already in the age of enhancement …
Yuval Harari is a Professor of History at Tel Aviv University. He authored two best-sellers – ‘Sapiens – A Brief History of Humankind’ in 2014 and ‘Homo Deus – A Brief History of Tomorrow’ in 2016. In an interview titled ‘Humanity on the brink?’ (Video #3), he mentioned the advances in bioengineering & AI, the threat of digital dictatorship, and that humans may become economically useless and politically powerless …
Christian Brugger is a Professor of Moral Theology at St. Vincent de Paul Regional Seminary in Florida. In Video #4, Brugger differentiates the use of biomedical technologies for “enhancement” vs “therapy”. While he very much supports their therapeutic uses, he seems very hesitant about their use for enhancement …
TO REFLECT:
The Scientific & Ethical Elements of Human Enhancement – “If significant enhancements become reality, experts think they will undoubtedly alter human society in profound ways, even allowing human beings to direct their own evolution.” The video ends by asking “Should we?”. What do you think? In your deliberations, what are your criteria for “good” and what are your presuppositions?
In Harari’s interview ‘Humanity on the brink?’, he mentions the threat of digital dictatorship, and that humans may become economically useless and politically powerless. Do you see such threats as real? How much would you be willing to give up in terms of privacy, freedom, democracy and other values, as parts of the costs for convenience, efficiency, and “technological progression”?
Brugger seems to be very much concerned about the meaning of “enhancement”. “What enables us to perceive purposefulness in human life, what enables us to see that sacrifice for sake of say love … is something that can’t be quantified, can never be reduced to a machine … if a machine is only going to operate on utilitarian outcomes, benefits that can be measurable …” Do you share Brugger’s concerns?
What are the human weaknesses and vulnerabilities? How would you relate to your weaknesses and vulnerabilities? Are they all amenable to technological fixes?
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Bionic Humans 