What ethical dilemmas posed by future technology or social changes would you like to see explored more thoroughly in contemporary Science Fiction?
I’ve got a lot of things I want to say on this one (so its a good thing it’s a two parter). And its especially apt since I just watched the first two […]

Out of the ethical dilemmas that Science Fiction has explored in the past which ones have been your favourite(s)? Are they still relevant in the same way today?

Today we tackle a subject that has been vexing me more and more later. I’m going to blather on in a moment but first the question….

Do you think the rise of self selecting media channels is going to facilitate more people subscribing to a lot of loony conspiracy theories and consensual realities, or will the net effect be to dispel many such notions?

Today we bring you the first part of another two parter. As before it’s a two parter because it was a question I liked asking…

Out of the ethical dilemmas that Science Fiction has explored in the past which ones have been your favourite(s)? Are they still relevant in the same way today?

John Leslie is Professor Emeritus at the University of Guelph’s Philosophy Department. He’s also associated with the Lifeboat Foundation and has written about and studied cosmology, metaphysics and cosmology.

Today we tackle a subject about which countless hundreds of thousands of words have been written over the past sixty years.

Do you perceive a growing sense of mistrust from the public with respect to science?

Is the Enlightenment ideal on the rocks or is it merely a bit shaken?

MT: The three answers that we received to this question are wildly divergent from each other. Partly this is because in common usage the term enlightenment tends to denote not just the idea that reason can be used to build authoritative systems of logic, aesthetics and ethics, (a concept rooted, as Robert Freeman points out below, in the idea of the perfectibility of man) but also the wider concept that the application of reason through the scientific method is the best way to understand the physical world.

We kick the week off with an interview with Paul Hartzog about Panarchy theory which he is a primary developer of. He contributes to Smart Mobs and also blogs at Panarchy. We get his take on a few issues with respect to share and sharing alike.

Just in case you thought I’ve turned into a completely silly blogger I’ve got a brainy and serious Brain Parade for you:

We seem to be awash in technological/scientific issues that raise serious ethical questions nowadays. Of these which concern/interest you the most?

We’re seeing renewed attacks on evolution, certain branches of scientitic research and conspiracy theories involving climatologists and Global Warming. At the same time supernatural thinking (new age, crystals, ID, deified interpretations of the Gaia hypothesis) are thriving. Should we be concerned by the level of magical thinking in our society? And if so what, if anything can be done about it?

o me the answer is to the first part of the question is a hell ya. To a limited extent we’re already there. The CIA extraodinary rendition scandal was broken by a network of bloggers with digicams. Tracking the movements of a CIA black op qualifies as government level survaileance in my books.

I’ve got a lot of good commentary on this Brain Parade from people who are much more knowledgeable and articulate on the subject than I am so instead of giving you my two pence let’s just get straight to the commentators:

I’m not going to answer this Brain Parade myself. I’ve already in fact written on this topic here (link) and I’ve got plenty of good commentary that covers most of the bases I’d want to elaborate on further anyway.

‘ve interviewed a number of transhumanists here over the past few weeks. Today I bring you an interview with Paul Hughes (no related to Dr. J Hughes) the editor of Future Hi. Paul is a pscyhedelic transhumanist, part of a movement that combines elements of spirituality, pschedelic culture and transhumanist thought.

One thing I like about this blog is that I get to ask just about all kinds of brainy types questions that have been nagging me. Today I have a short interview with Daniela Cerqui. She’s an anthropologist currently conducting research at the University of Reading’s Cybernetics dept

We’ve interviewed a number of transhumanists over the past month. This week we interview technoprogressive Dale Carrico, a lecturer with the Department of Rhetoric at the University of California. I’ve read some of his writing on the IEET (link) and am impressed by his point of view.

For my take I first have to state that I see the trend of increasingly autonomous weapons as nigh unstoppable. So I’m not going to whinge about should we or shouldn’t we as that is tantamount to pissing in the wind. However what does concern me is oversight.

I’m a bit of a naysayer on this topic. I do agree that the internet lets us all connect to each other in wonderful new ways. However to me that’s beside the point, technology (or more specificaly the way our society uses technology) has alienating effects as well that are worth paying attention to.

I’m responding to this article (link) in Seed titled Discovery for the Sake of Discovery (cheers to Double A for the spottage)

The author makes comparison’s between science and religion which I think are totally naff and I’m going to tell you why.

Nick Bostrom is the co-founder of the World Transhumanist Association. In 2004, along with James Hughes, Bostrom co-founded the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies. In 2005 he was appointed Director of the newly created Oxford Future of Humanity Institute.

I’m a bit of a naysayer on this topic. I do agree that the internet lets us all connect to each other in wonderful new ways. However to me that’s beside the point, technology (or more specificaly the way our society uses technology) is alienating.

I had the pleasure of interviewing Natasha recently, a transhumanist theorist and futurist with a background in the arts. She was kind enough to answer a few questions about transhumanism and futurism for us.