20130613 yale h+bioethics
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Transhumanist Bioethics
James J. Hughes Ph.D.
Executive Director, Institute for Ethics and Emerging TechnologiesLecturer, Public Policy Studies, Trinity College, Hartford CT
James.Hughes@trincoll.edu
June 17, 2013 – Yale University
The Enlightenment
Origins of secularism, secular humanism and modern bioethics in 17th and 18th century
Descartes, Locke, Pascal, Bayle, Montesquieu, Voltaire, Diderot, Condorcet, Rousseau
Principles of the Enlightenment
1. Autonomy of reason from faith and authority
2. Human perfectibility and social progress
3. Empirical optimism: sapere aude!
4. Legitimacy of government based on free association
5. Tolerance of diversity, freedom of thought
6. Ethical universalism – beyond nationalism, racism, sexism
20th Century Politics
Progressives
Conservatives
Conservatives Progressives
Populists
Libertarians New Right
Social Democrats
Cultural Politics
Economic Politics
Populists
Libertarians New Right
Social Democrats
20th century politics shaped by the ongoing battles for/against Enlightenment values, or between various interpretations of Enlightenment values
Emerging Technologies
Tech that will radically change the human brain:PsychopharmacologyGenetic engineeringNanotechnologyArtificial intelligenceCognitive science
The accelerating convergence of all these“for improving human performance”
Human Enhancement
Curing disabilitiesHealthLongevity Intelligence Emotional controlHeightened sensesSpiritual experienceMoral sentiment and cognition
Why Human Enhancement?
Status Quo Bias Would it be better to
have….Shorter lives?More disabilities?Less intelligence?Less memory?Less happiness?
Biopolitical Battlefronts
Who is a citizen with a right to life?: abortion, stem cells, great ape rights, brain death, chimeras
Control of Reproduction: contraception, abortion, fertility treatments, genetic testing, germline gene therapies, cloning
Fixing Disabilities to “Human Enhancement”: cochlear implants, prosthetics, eye and brain chips, gene therapies, cosmetic procedures
Extending Life: from treatments for aging-related diseases, to anti-aging drugs and therapies
Control of the Brain: Ritalin and Prozac, psychoactive drugs, brain chips
21st Century Politics
Economic Politics
Biopolitics
Progressive
Conservative
Progressive Conservative Cultural Politics
Bioconservatism
Transhumanism
From Bioethics to Biopolitics
Public health and universal insurance
Access to contraception
Rights to refuse treatment, confinement
Roe v. Wade Stem cells
BioConservatives
Religious Right
CS Lewis The Abolition of Man
Deep Ecologists, Romantic Luddites
Aldous Huxley Brave New World
Jeremy Rifkin Algeny
Left-wing/Feminist Critics of Biotech Gena Corea The Mother Machine
Center for Genetics and Society
Pro-Disability Extremists Not Dead Yet
2002-3: BioPolitical Landmark
Leon Kass appointed Chair of President’s Council on Bioethics
Fukuyama’s Our Posthuman Future (2002)
Greg Stock’s Redesigning Humans (2002)
Christian Right’s Manifesto on Biotechnology and Human
Dignity (2002)
Vatican’s "Human Persons Created in the Image of God“ (2002)
Bill McKibben Enough (2003)
PCB’s Beyond Therapy (2003)
Leon Kass
Chair, President’s
Council on
Bioethics
Christian Right BioCon Network
Millions of dollars poured into “conservative bioethics”
Center for Bioethics and Culture (Jennifer Lahl, Nigel Cameron, Prison Ministries, etc.)
Trinity International University/Center for Bioethics and Human Dignity
Discovery Institute (Wesley J. Smith)
Ethics & Public Policy Center’s BAD (Eric Cohen, New Atlantis)
American Enterprise Institute (Leon Kass, J.Q. Wilson)
National Catholic Bioethics Center (John Haas)
Hudson Institute (Michael Fumento)
Progressive Pushback
Progressive Bioethics Network Caplan, McGee, Charo, et al. Women’s Bioethics Network Appigniani Bioethics Center Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies Center for American Progress
Pinker “The Stupidity of Human Dignity” New Republic
Stephen Pinker
What is Transhumanism?
An intellectual and cultural movement that affirms
the possibility and desirability of transcending the limitations of the human body through applied reason
especially by using technology to
eliminate aging and enhance human intellectual, physical, and psychological capacities.
“Trans-humanism” and “Transhuman-ism”
Julian Huxley first director of UNESCO "Transhumanism“ "the human species can transcend itself."
“FM-2030” (FM Esfandiary) popularized term “transhuman” in the 1970s
Growing H+ Movement
(World Transhumanist Association)transhumanism.org
30 chapters, 5500 members
Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies
ieet.org
H+ Politics
Left H+ outnumber libertarians
Conservatives 2-4%
Which of these best describes your political views? 2003 2005 2007 Left 36% 39% 47%
Technoprogressive -- -- 16% Libertarian socialist 7% 7% 7% Progressive 6% 7% 4% Democratic socialist 4% 6% 5% Social democrat 5% 5% 4% Green 4% 4% 4% US-style liberal 4% 4% 3% Left anarchist 2% 3% 2% Radical 2% 1% <0.5% Communist 1% 1% 1%
Libertarian 22% 22% 20%
Libertarian 11% 10% 10% European Liberal 6% 7% 5% Anarcho-capitalist 4% 2% 2% Randian/Objectivist 1% 2% 1% Minarchist 1% 1% 1%
Other 17% 16% 14%
Upwinger/advocate of future political system
8% 10% 7%
Other 9% 7% 7%
Not political 15% 12% 11% Moderate 7% 8% 7% Conservative 4% 3% 2%
Christian Democrat 1% <0.5% <0.5% Conservative 2% 2% 1% Far right 1% <0.5% <0.5%
Technoprogressivism
Core Ideas: Equality and solidarity, as well as
liberty
Tech needs regulation and universal access
“Technoprogressives” Institute for Ethics & Emerging
Technologies ieet.org
Biopolitical Coalitions
H+ Coalition BioCon Coalition
A-TechnoprogressivesB-Libertarian transhumanists
Economic Politics
Biopolitics
Progressive
Conservative
C
A
Progressive Conservative
B
D
Cultural Politics
Bioconservatism
Transhumanism
C-Left bioconservativesD-Right bioconservatives
Transhumanists BioConservativesPersonhood, cyborg citizenship
Human-Racism (or Deep ecology)
Humanism, reason, individual liberty, progress
Sacred taboos, “the natural”, yuck factor, romanticism
Risks are manageable Risks are unknowable; Punishment for hubris inevitable; Tech should be banned
Central Biopolitical Disputes
Beyond Human-racism…
Human-racism = Humanness as basis of rights-bearing
Humans have souls or crypto-spiritual “human dignity”
Fetus to cremation
Embryonic citizens?
Boundaries of Humanness Animal-Human:
Chimeras & “uplifted” animals
Perinatal: Totipotent cells and artificial wombs
Perideath: Brain repair Machine-Human: AGI & neuro-prosthetics Human-Posthuman: ?
Human Nature and the Embryo
"The uniqueness of human nature is at stake. Human dignity is indivisible…every human being is possessed of an equal dignity…at every stage of life…"
James Dobson
Five Moral Intuitions
Liberals:Harm/careFairness/reciprocity
ConservativesIngroup loyaltyRespect for authorityPurity/sanctity
JonathanHaidt
In-betweens are Dirty
Purity and DangerWhy aren’t pigs
kosher?Cloven hoofs but
don’t chew cud
Mary Douglas
Uncanny Valley
Masahiro Mori’s robots
Race-Mixing Panic
Rights Based on Racial Identity?
Universal Declaration on the Human Genome and Human Rights (UNESCO, 1998)
“The human genome underlies the fundamental unity of all members of the human family, as well as the recognition of their inherent dignity and diversity.” Sorry – no rights!
Is hairlessness one of the human traits necessary for citizenship?
“They” Want Your Jobs
Inevitability of Race War?
"The posthuman will come to see us (the garden variety human) as an inferior subspecies without human rights to be enslaved or slaughtered preemptively. It is this potential for genocide based on genetic difference, that I have termed "genetic genocide," that makes species-altering genetic engineering a potential weapon of mass destruction." (Annas, 2001)
Enhancement a Crime Against Humanity?
George Annas & Lori Andrews: make human enhancement “a crime against humanity”
Senator Kelly: "Are mutants dangerous? We license people to drive."(X-Men) Dr. Grey: "But not to live."
Violent Defenders of Human Nature
“Human nature has in the past put certain limits on the development of societies. But … technology is developing ways of modifying human beings…. Getting rid of industrial society … will remove the capacity of … control over human nature" - the “Unabomber Manifesto”
…to Personhood
Persons: “conscious beings, aware of themselves, with intents and purposes over time”
You can be human and not persons: fetus, braindead
You can be a person and not human: great apes, AI, posthumans
H+ = Radical Human Rights
Personhood, not race, gender or species, defines citizenship
Citizens have a right to control own bodies, brains & reproduction
Goal of governance should be to help each person fulfill her potential John Locke
1632-1704
Technological Self-Determination
The right to know how safe and effective technologies are
The right to use technology to control our own bodies and minds
The right of equal access to technological empowerment
Legitimate Risk Concerns: Safety, Efficacy, Equity
Ensure technology is safe and effective
Make tech accessible to all
Yuck Factor Stops Critical Thinking
Bioconservative risk estimates are grounded in yuck factor so that tech bans seem only logical policy
Tech is not the problem Greed, racism, inequality,
patriarchy, authoritarianism,
ignorance and superstition
are the problems
Technology only opens new
ways to pursue virtue, reason,
democracy, equality, and liberty
The Crossbow was invented to oppress peasants. But it became the perfect tool for knocking knights off horses.
2008: Biopolitical Fragmentation
Economic crisis supplants biopolitics
Progressive bioethics sidetracked by 2009 demonization, technocratic Obama bioethics
Re-assertion of libertopian hegemony in H+
Fukuyama’s turn to the Left Nigel Cameron turns to tech
elites
Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies
Conservative H+ Hegemony
Singularity University Peter Diamandis Abundance Entrepreneurs’ summer camp
Peter Thiel Christian conservative Paypal, Facebook, Clarium Dominance in H+: SIAI, SENS,
Seasteading Ron Paul, Hoover
Gingrich’s ‘Futurism’ Glenn Harlan Reynolds Employment doublethinkInstitute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies
Growing Apocalypticism
Growth of radical militia/survivalist subculture
Sales of survivalist supplies and guns spiking
25% of Republicans say Obama may be AntiChrist
Millennialist/Apocalyptic turn among H+
H+ & Singularity feed apocalyptic narratives
The Singularity
Millenialist Kurzweil
Apocalyptic Hugo de Garis
Fatalist, Inevitabilist
Messianic Yudkowsky Purity of code,
danger of DNA
Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies
Religious H+ & Singularitarians
One quarter of H+ are religious Mormon Transhumanist
Association largest H+ group in US
Dmitry Itskov
Nikolai Fedorov (1829-1903) Russian H+: Pro-Putin v. liberal
reformists v. anarchists Itskov’s Global Future 2045
For more information
Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologiesieet.org
Me: james.hughes@trincoll.edu
director@ieet.org
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