Saturday, October 22, 2016

Episode #13: Laura Cabrera on Human Enhancement, Communication and Values

In this episode I interview Dr Laura Cabrera. Laura is an Assistant Professor at the Center for Ethics and Humanities in the Life Sciences at Michigan State University where she conducts research into the ethical and societal implications of neurotechnology. I ask Laura how human enhancement can affect inter-personal communication and values and talk about the issues in her recent book Rethinking Human Enhancement : Social Enhancement and Emergent Technologies.

You download the show here or listen below. You can also subscribe on Stitcher and iTunes (click 'add to iTunes').

Show Notes

0:00 – 1:00 - Introduction
1:00 – 11:15 - What is human enhancement- definitions and translations
11:15 – 13:35 - Discussing moral enhancement - Savulescu and Persson
13:35 – 14:35 - Human enhancement and communication - discussing Laura’s paper with John Wekert
14:35 – 28:40 - Shared lifeworlds, similar bodies, communication problems
28:40 – 39:48 - Augmented reality and sensory perception
39:48 – 46:20 - Cognitive capacity and memory – Oliver Sacks & Borges
46:20 – 49:50 - Ethics – hermeneutic crises and empathy gaps
49:50 – 52:30 - Can technology solve communication problems?
53:32 – 1:00:00 - What are human values?
1:00:00 – 1:08:20 - How does cognitive enhancement affect values?
1:08:20 – 1:16:00 – Neoliberalism values - pressures and competitiveness
1:16:00 – End - How to prioritise values and see the positives in enhancement