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| Keynote Presentation at W-JAX, Munich |
Who am I?
I like to imagine, navigate and analyse the future of humanity. I am currently an academic and lecturer at the National University of Ireland (NUI), Galway. I teach in the School of Law. I am also an affiliate scholar at the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies.
My research deals primarily with the ethical, social and legal implications of emerging technologies, but dances around some other philosophical topics. In the past I have written papers about social robots, the risks of advanced AI, the meaning of life and the future of work, the ethics of human enhancement, the intersection between law and neuroscience, the utility of brain-based lie detection, the philosophy of language, and the philosophy of religion.
What academic work have I done?
If you would like to learn more about my academic work, see here or here or here. Below are (open access) links to a sample of my academic papers:
- 'Welcoming Robots into the Moral Circle: A Defence of Ethical Behaviourism' (2019) Science and Engineering Ethics
- 'The Ethics of Algorithmic Outsourcing in Everyday Life' (2019) in Yeung and Lodge (ed) Algorithmic Regulation (OUP).
- 'The Quantified Relationship' (2018) with Sven Nyholm and Brian Earp, American Journal of Bioethics
- 'Towards an Ethics of AI Assistants: an Initial Framework' (2018) Philosophy and Technology
- 'The Threat of Algocracy: Reality, Resistance and Accommodation' (2016) Philosophy and Technology
- 'Robots, Law and the Retribution Gap' (2016) Ethics and Information Technology
- 'Human Enhancement, Social Solidarity and the Distribution of Responsibility' (2016) Ethical Theory and Moral Practice
- 'Robotic Rape and Robotic Child Sexual Abuse: Should they be Criminalised?' (2014) Criminal Law and Philosophy
- 'Common Knowledge, Pragmatic Enrichment and Thin Originalism' (2015) Jurisprudence
- 'Sex work, Technological Unemployment and the Basic Income Guarantee' (2014) Journal of Evolution and Technology
- 'Will life be worth living in a world without work? Technological Unemployment and the Meaning of Life' (2016) Science and Engineering Ethics
- 'Hyperagency and the Good Life: Does Extreme Enhancement Threaten Meaning?' (2014) Neuroethics
- 'Necessary Moral Truths and Theistic Metaethics' (2014) Sophia
- 'Blind Expertise and the Problem of Scientific Evidence' (2011) International Journal of Evidence and Proof
What is this blog about?
The purpose of this blog is to share, explain and comment on various philosophical articles and books that I read; to share occasional ideas that I have; and to present my own academic work to a wider audience. The content is fairly eclectic. I've been known to discuss robotics, human enhancement, death, the meaning of life, metaethics, applied ethics, free will and responsibility, game theory and the philosophy of religion. So there's something for nearly everybody.
To get a sense of what I write about, check out the 'Best of' page. Here are some of my more popular series of posts to get you started:
To get a sense of what I write about, check out the 'Best of' page. Here are some of my more popular series of posts to get you started:
If you enjoy the content here, you might like to subscribe to the monthly newsletter. You might also enjoy the podcast I do.
Finally, here's a video of a talk I once gave about the ethics of sex robots.
Finally, here's a video of a talk I once gave about the ethics of sex robots.
