Review Essay: Andy Clark, Natural-Born Cyborgs: Minds, Technologies, and the Future of Human Intelligence.

Review Essay: Andy Clark, Natural-Born Cyborgs: Minds, Technologies, and the Future of Human Intelligence

Approaching Transhumanism: On How Human Beings Transform in the 21st Century

The following article is to introduce the reader into a cultural and intellectual movement whose aim is to identify the need for improvement in human life in the sphere of physicality as well as mentality with the aid of modern technologies – transhumanism. With the dramatic change in the perception of technology, transhumanist welcome the opportunity to improve cognitive skills, help to perpetuate human happiness, or increase longevity. Although the opponents of the transhumanist thought dismiss it as “the world’s most dangerous idea,” the adversaries advocate that the alternation of human form is both practical and reasonable. With the use of modern technology, enthusiasts of transhumanism try to prove that the human body needs to be re-invented in order to transcend the natural limitations. In my work I will try to tackle the problem of human body being currently subject to gradual transition from Homo Sapiens to Robo Sapiens, the process of ‘becoming’ a cyborg. By incorporating bodily augmentation, contemporary artists such as Stelarc or Neil Harbisson cast a light on the change of physical form, as well as the definition of being human. Evoking much controversy, transhumanism brings a completely new dimension to the understanding of the current human condition

Going Public When You Can in Biotechnology

Scientist-entrepreneurs prominent in biotech and other high-technology industries view going public not as a cost-effective source of capital but as a cross between selling a now-proven innovation and winning a lottery. Unlike most empirical IPO analyses confined to those firms that go public, we study substantially all the non-public biotech firms founded up through 1989. The probability that one of these firms goes public in any given year increases with the quality of the firm's science base (use of recombinant DNA technology, number of articles by star scientists as or with firm employees, number of biotech patents), the percentage of eligible firms going public the year the firm was founded as a strategy indicator, recent biotech returns as an indicator of a hot market, and whether or how many rounds of venture capital has been obtained. The same key factors increase the expected proceeds raised from IPOs, but the quality of the firm's science base plays a more dominant role. All firms going public try to look like the next Genentech, but only those with the strong science base necessary for success attract large investments.

Copyright Protection for Works in the Language of Life

In 2001, the DNA Copyright Institute sought to capitalize on the fear of human cloning by offering celebrities the opportunity to use copyright to secure exclusive rights in their DNA. At the time, a Copyright Office spokesperson pointed out that a person’s DNA “is not an original work of authorship.” That statement is no longer self-evident. A scientist claims to have used CRISPR technology to create a pair of twin girls with human-altered DNA that may provide immunity to HIV infection and improved cognitive function. Through gene therapy, doctors can “author” changes to patients’ DNA to cure disease. Scientists “edit” bacterial cell DNA to produce medicines and industrial enzymes. Researchers have “written” original DNA encoding a GIF of a running horse. Does copyright grant exclusive rights to these creations? For decades, scholars have argued that DNA sequences, like computer programs, are copyrightable “works” encompassed by the Copyright Act’s definition of “literary works.” So far, the Copyright Office is unconvinced and continues to list DNA sequences and compounds as “works” that do not constitute copyrightable subject matter. This Article takes a new approach by proposing that DNA is not a “work” at all. Rather, DNA is a medium in which information is stored. In the words of the Copyright Act, DNA compounds are “copies” in which an original copyrightable work or a functional creation may be fixed. Under this framework, literature is entitled to copyright protection whether it exists as a copy printed on paper or encoded into DNA. Genetic DNA, which functions as a component of cellular machinery to produce useful chemicals, is entitled to no more copyright protection than any other machine component. Rejecting this approach and continuing to treat DNA as a “work” rather than a “copy” has real world consequences. The recent history of copyright protection for computer programs provides a cautionary tale. Mischaracterizing DNA in the way that computer programs have been mischaracterized — as a type of “work” under the Copyright Act — could lead to the extension of exclusive copyrights to the functional DNA in living organisms in the same way that copyright protection has been extended to some functional aspects of computer programs

TRANSHUMANISM AS A PHILOSOPHY OF MATERIAL TRANSFIGURATION: A CRITICAL ANALYSIS

This paper is a critical expository analysis of the controversial philosophy of transhumanism. The method adopted in this philosophical paper is the expository analytic method. The analysis established that transhumanism is both a biotechnological aspiration as well as a philosophical vision of a material transfiguration of human condition and experience which ultimate culmination is the man-technology singularity or convergence. This paper concludes that notwithstanding contending voices and the pertinent questions raised regarding the moral standing of transhumanist philosophy and their radical dreams for humanity; one fact remains incontestable- the fact that their promises are relishing, enticing and impressive. With regard to whether or not humanity can attain the height envisioned by transhumanist, we confidently hold that the unprecedented legacies and achievements of science and technology overwhelmingly affirm the high probability of the realization of the material transfiguration of humanity

Human Enhancement Technologies and Our Merger with Machines

A cross-disciplinary approach is offered to consider the challenge of emerging technologies designed to enhance human bodies and minds. Perspectives from philosophy, ethics, law, and policy are applied to a wide variety of enhancements, including integration of technology within human bodies, as well as genetic, biological, and pharmacological modifications. Humans may be permanently or temporarily enhanced with artificial parts by manipulating (or reprogramming) human DNA and through other enhancement techniques (and combinations thereof). We are on the cusp of significantly modifying (and perhaps improving) the human ecosystem. This evolution necessitates a continuing effort to re-evaluate current laws and, if appropriate, to modify such laws or develop new laws that address enhancement technology. A legal, ethical, and policy response to current and future human enhancements should strive to protect the rights of all involved and to recognize the responsibilities of humans to other conscious and living beings, regardless of what they look like or what abilities they have (or lack). A potential ethical approach is outlined in which rights and responsibilities should be respected even if enhanced humans are perceived by non-enhanced (or less-enhanced) humans as “no longer human” at all

Teleportation, cyborgs and the posthuman ideology

This paper is concerned with a set of phenomena that lies at the intersection of popular culture, genetics, cybertechnology, nanotechnology, biotechnology and other advanced technologies, bio-ethics, science speculation, science fiction, mythology, the New Age Movement, cults, commerce and globalization. At the centre is a radical technophilia that finds representative expression in posthumanism, an Internet-based social movement driven by an extreme scientific utopianism. This set of phenomena constitutes an articulated cultural response to a number of underlying economic, technological and social dynamics that are together transforming the world, and particularly developed societies as they are incorporated into a global system of 'digital capitalism'. This paper first describes posthumanism and transhumanism. It then explores two key notions, teleportation and cyborgs, that receive extensive attention in mainstream media and serve as exemplars of this scientistic ideology, locating them both in cultural history and contemporary popular culture. The paper argues that posthumanism and associated phenomena are best seen as an ideological interpellation of humanity into an increasingly dominant scientific and technological order based on the cultural and scientific ascendancy of the 'Informational Paradigm' identified by Katherine Hayles in her inquiry into 'How we became posthuman'

Minds Online: The Interface between Web Science, Cognitive Science, and the Philosophy of Mind

Alongside existing research into the social, political and economic impacts of the Web, there is a need to study the Web from a cognitive and epistemic perspective. This is particularly so as new and emerging technologies alter the nature of our interactive engagements with the Web, transforming the extent to which our thoughts and actions are shaped by the online environment. Situated and ecological approaches to cognition are relevant to understanding the cognitive significance of the Web because of the emphasis they place on forces and factors that reside at the level of agent–world interactions. In particular, by adopting a situated or ecological approach to cognition, we are able to assess the significance of the Web from the perspective of research into embodied, extended, embedded, social and collective cognition. The results of this analysis help to reshape the interdisciplinary configuration of Web Science, expanding its theoretical and empirical remit to include the disciplines of both cognitive science and the philosophy of mind

Importance of Storytelling and Speculative Fiction in the Transition into A Posthuman Ecosystem

Storytelling is one of the most powerful tools the Homo sapiens species have at their disposal. Considered one of the oldest forms of art and an evolutionary adaptation for survival, storytelling will surely have an important role in the challenging transition into a posthuman ecosystem. This article argues that Homo sapiens will eventually evolve and fragment into other species much due to our natural proclivity towards enhancing technologies; we propose that empathic storytelling might be paramount to reduce otherness and othering in-between human, transhuman, and posthuman sentient beings. The importance of storytelling as a deterrent for othering future complex artificial intelligence, augmented humans, and posthuman species has not been properly explored and studied in-depth, therefore, we collected data and points of view on vital concepts pertinent to the discussion. This paper’s main goals are to contribute to the debate of storytelling and posthumanism and to understand how the action of telling empathic, appealing, and engaging stories, be it through books, moving images, or videogames could be used for the betterment of future societies and their relations. We concluded that by creating and disseminating big quantities of beautiful, touching, empathic, direct from the heart, speculative, truthful, and thought-provoking stories, in all available media, it is possible to combat the nefarious act of othering and prepare contemporary societies for the emergence of transhuman and posthuman species; we further argue that speculative fiction and audiovisual content production systematically explores concepts such as androids, artificial intelligence, cyborgs, robots, and what it means to be human, making them an efficient genre and media to achieve the above-mentioned inspiring goal of connecting people empathically and reducing future othering