Announcing...The Philosophy Club

The Philosophy Club is an enterprise dedicated to sharing the creative freedom and critical rigour of philosophy with young people.  Its facilitators are trained in the method of collaborative philosophical enquiry which emphasises curiosity, open-mindedness and inclusivity.  The Philosophy Club works with schools to train teachers and to introduce philosophy into the curriculum.

If you could take a pill that would make you feel as responsible towards future generations as you feel towards your parents, would you want to take it?  Would you have a moral obligation to take it?  What if the salvation of the planet depended on us all expanding our circle of moral concern?

The Philosophy Club will conduct small group enquiries into these and other questions raised by Professor Julian Savulescu.  you're invited to join with your peers in responding to an original stimulus and participating in a lively and informal discussion.

Visit: The Philosophy Club

Announcing...Associate Professsor Robert Sparrow

Associate Professor Robert Sparrow works in the School of Philosophical, Historical and International Studies at Monash University.  Broadly, his areas of interest and political philosophy and applied ethics with an emphasis on philosophical arguments with real world implications.  More specifically, Associate Professor Sparrow's work has included consideration of the ethics of reproductive technology and its implications for our ideas about normal human bodies and the importance of genetic relatedness, the ethics of pre-implantation genetic diagnosis and robotics, including military robotics, robotic companions and robotics and aged care.  A list of Professor Sparrow's journal publications can be found here: http://profiles.arts.monash.edu.au/rob-sparrow/

Lethal Autonomous Robots Must be Stopped in their Tracks: The Conversation

TechDebate: Lethal Autonomous Robots

Associate Professor Sparrow's presentation will be on:

Better Than Men? Genetic Technology and the Future of Mankind

A number of influential bioethicists and philosophers are now arguing that the proper goal of medicine should include “human enhancement” – the quest to make people “better than well”. In particular, Professor Julian Savulescu, at Oxford University, and Professor John Harris, at the University of Manchester, have argued that we are morally obligated to use technologies of genetic selection and genetic modification to have “the best children possible”. In this talk I will explain and evaluate their arguments and suggest that they have a surprising implication for the future of mankind.

Announcing....Professor Luciano Floridi

Professor Luciano Floridi is considered one of the world's leading experts on the ways in which digital technologies are changing the way we live and is the only ethicist on Google's advisory panel on the right to be forgotten.  He is Professor of Philosophy and Ethics of Information at the University of Oxford, Director of Research and Senior Research Fellow of the Oxford Internet Institute, Governing Body Fellow of St Cross College, Distinguished Research Fellow of the Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics, Research Associate and Fellow in Information Policy of the Department of Computer Science and, beyond Oxford, Adjunct Professor of the Department of Economics, American University.  Professor Floridi's research interests include Philosophy of Information, Information and Computer Ethics and the Philosophy of Technology.  His most recent books include: The Fourth Revolution - How the Infosphere is Reshaping Human Realiity ; The Ethics of Information ; The Philosophy of Information and Information - A Very Short Introduction.

Professor Floridi will be joining us live from Oxford University via Skype.

Professor Floridi's website

Professor Floridi - The Philosopher's Zone

The Fourth Revolution - Professor Floridi on Philosophy Bites

Professor Floridi's presentation will be on:

Are We Really Special? AI’s New Challenges to Human Exceptionalism

 In this talk, I shall discuss some consequences of our increasing success in engineering smart, autonomous, and social agents (AI), as well as predictive tools that can anticipate and manipulate human decisions and choices. I shall argue that AI does not lead to any fanciful realization of science fiction scenarios (Singularity), which are at best distracting and at worst irresponsible; that human intelligent behaviour is confronted by artificial smart behaviour, which can be adaptively more successful in the infosphere; that human free behaviour is confronted by its predictability and manipulability by AI, and by the development of artificial autonomy; and that human sociable behaviour is confronted by its artificial counterpart, which can be both attractive for humans and indistinguishable by them. In the conclusion, I shall suggest that all this invites us to reflect more seriously and less complacently about who we are, could be, and would like to become, and therefore about our self-understanding and our responsibilities towards the world and each other.

ANNOUNCING.... Dr. Russell Blackford

Dr. Russell Blackford is a writer, philosopher and literary critic.  He is conjoint Lecturer in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Newcastle, Fellow  of the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies and editor-in-chief of the Journal of Evolution and Technology.  His books include Humanity Enhanced: Genetic Choice and the Challenge for Liberal Democracies (http://mitpress.mit.edu/books/humanity-enhanced), Intelligence Unbound: The Future of Uploaded and Machine Minds (http://au.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-1118736281.html) and a trilogy of books, Terminator 2: The New John Connor Chronicles.  His interests include bioethics, cyber-culture and transhumanism.

Selections of Russell Blackford's fiction and non-fiction work

Dr Russell Blackford's presentation will be on:

What if nothing is sacred?  Politics and bioethics without sanctity

In his presentation, and drawing on the work of Jonathan Haidt and Philip Kitcher, Dr. Blackford will discuss the issue of where we are left in terms of regulatory policy and bioethical issues such as abortion, stem-cell research and human cloning if nothing is considered sacred or of infinite value, or if sacredness is considered irrelevant to political deliberation.

ANNOUNCING...Professor Julian Savulescu

Professor Julian Savulescu is the Director of the Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics and is Uehiro Professor of Practical Ethics at Oxford. He is also the Sir Louis Matheson Distinguished Visiting Professor at Monash University, the head of the Melbourne-Oxford Stem Cell Collaboration, which is devoted to examining the ethical implications of cloning and embryonic stem cell research, the editor of the Journal of Medical Ethics and, together with Igmar Persson, the author of Unfit for the Future: The Need for Moral Enhancement (http://blog.oup.com/2012/08/unfit-future-moral-enhancement/). His research interests include: the ethics of genetics, research ethics, new forms of reproduction, such as cloning and assisted reproduction, medical ethics and sports ethics.

Professor Savulescu's presentation will be on:

 Practical Ethics, Enhancement and the Advancement of Science and Technology

Recent advances in science and technology have given us the ability to manipulate our genes and the germline through direct gene editing (CRISPR), to use electrical currents to directly stimulate the brain (transcranial direct brain simulation), and to use pharmacology to improve our attention and memory. All of these technologies have the potential to be used for human enhancement: using biological interventions to improve our functioning, whether that is cognitive function, physical performance or even our moral attributes . This talk will explore the ethics of such technologies, and, through discussion of the ethics of enhancement will cover some of the basic principles of the discipline of practical Ethics.

Bioethics with Prof. Julian Savulescu– Pt. 2: Is Genetic Enhancement the Future of Humanity?

Pills that improve morality: Julian Savulescu at TEDxBarcelona

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