Philosophy in the news... Ann Coulter’s visit... ann-coulter-gets-a-big-welcome-from-calgary/article1511247

Philosophy in the news...

Ann Coulter’s visit...

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/spurned-in-ottawa-ann-coulter-gets-a-big-welcome-from-calgary/article1511247/

The Harris Learning Library...

Kenn Brown art

Transhumanism:Carpe Diem or Playing God?

The Epic of Gilgamesh dates from the 3rd millennium BCE and is one of the finest surviving epic poems in world literature.

Transhuman?

Julian Huxley 1957

"I believe in

transhumanism:

...once there are enough people who can truly say that, the human species will be on the threshold of a new kind of existence, as different from ours as ours is from that of Peking man. It will at last be consciously fulfilling its real destiny.“

Aims of Transhumanism…. Increase in human health span

(more than merely life span)

Extension of intellectual and physical capacities

Control of our mental states and moods

Singularity

“Singularity...

the point at which technological advancement will become so rapid that the possibilities will become endless...”

Singularity

The Singularity is the technological creation of smarter-than-human intelligence.

Bioconservatives… Are opposed to the use of technology to

modify human nature

Believe that human enhancement technologies will undermine human dignity (i.e. be dehumanizing)

Argue for public control of such technologies

Two fears…

Posthumans might harm themselves

Posthumans might harm ‘ordinary’ humans

Transhumanism and civil liberties...

Technological self-determination Reproduction Cognition Gender re-assignment End of life technology

Coming to a college near you...

Rutger’s University (New Jersey)

The course requires no science or technology background and is recommended for students with an art, humanities or business focus as well as anyone who anticipates working in a high technology or science-based industry or profession.

The ‘singularity’ is coming…

Based on 21st C advances in

genetics nanotechnology robotics (including artificial

intelligence)

http://www.innoeco.com/labels/Ray%20Kurzweil.html

Chimera

In Mythology

Who’s afraid of a little chimera?

First Spidey…

Now a little spider-goat…

Parahuman... "human-animal hybrids"

The Young Family 2002-3 Artist: Patricia Piccinini

At Stanford University in California, experiments aim to create mice with human brains.

Relationship between eugenics and transhumanism...

Perfecting the human race…

Humanity as a work in progress Enlightenment thinking Evolution

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1AY0RFYzsKk&feature=player_embedded

The Battleground?

The Battleground?

Clones Designer babies Spare parts babies Deaf babies for deaf

parents

Ethics and embryology – should deaf parents be allowed to choose a deaf child?

So, riddle me this: a deaf couple want a second child, and because of the woman’s age they’ll probably need to use in-vitro fertilisation techniques. No problem so far … until you find that the parents want to be able to select for a deaf child, and the UK government’s recent embryology bill will not allow them to do so.

This is a textbook ethical dilemma, but it’s the sort of thing that advances in reproductive technology and genetic engineering are going to make more commonplace.

Designer Babies...

Designer Babies - Comments by Princeton professor Lee Silver http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TN9ep4B9Hw0

Designer babies CBS http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ixEDLa3Jlc&NR=1&feature=fvwp

60 minutes: Gender selection instead of disease eradication? http://www.fertility-docs.com/htmldocs/Video_60Min-B.html

CSI New York: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kefoIXnLAN0&NR=1&feature=fvwp

What do you think?

Should we aid in our own evolution?

Should we leave it up to nature?

Who should decide?

Who can decide?

Transhumanists vs. Bioconservatives

Carpe Diem or Playing God?

Final Exam: 3 hours

70 Multiple Choice (70 marks) Short Answer or True False (10 marks) 2 Short Paragraph Answers (20 marks)

Final Exam: what’s included…

Everything we’ve done since Feb 3rd

Lectures 17 to 24 The PowerPoints The two movies The readings and notes*

Multiple Choice…

Ionia, the birthplace of Western Philosophy, is in present-day

a) Greece b) Italy c) Turkey d) Cyprus

Which group is comprised entirely of ancient materialists?

a) Thales, Democritus, Augustine b) Thales, Socrates, Plato, St. Thomas c) Thales, Heraclitus, Democritus d) Thales, Heraclitus, Descartes

Which of the following suggested that the world consisted of tiny, indestructible elements called atoms?

a) Heraclitus b) Democritus c) Plato d) Aristotle

“Existence precedes essence,” comes from the pen of

a) Albert Camus b) Soren Kierkegaard c) Jean-Paul Sartre d) Friedrich Nietzsche

Which pairing makes the most sense?

a) John Locke and Tabula Rasa b) J.S. Mill and Tabula Rasa c) John Locke and the indubitable method d) Rousseau and the indubitable method

Three ideas which challenge Locke’s theories about memory carrying the ‘self’ are

a) forgetting, false memory syndrome and drunkenness

b) reason, law and false memory b) identity, knowledge and truth c) amnesia, love and faith

Who was “awakened from [his] dogmatic slumber”?

a) Washington Irving b) Rip Van Winkle c) Immanuel Kant d) No one; they’re all still sleeping

Short answers:

Why was Hobbes in trouble with the Catholic Church?

True / False:

The tabula rasa is an ancient philosophical tablet from Ionia.

Paragraph Answer:

Identify and discuss….

Allegory of the Cave

Blackfoot Origin Myth

Rawls’ Theory of Justice

Protagoras’ Moral Skepticism

Remember that philosophy hides in plain sight everywhere.

But you have to pay attention…

Thanks for listening…