1. Transhumanist Bioethics James J. Hughes Ph.D. Executive Director, Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies Lecturer, Public Policy Studies, Trinity College, Hartford CT James.Hughes@trincoll.edu June 17, 2013 – Yale University

2. The Enlightenment Origins of secularism, secular humanism and modern bioethics in 17 th and 18 th century Descartes, Locke, Pascal, Bayle, Montesquieu, Voltaire, Diderot, Condorcet, Rousseau

3. 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

4. 20 th Century Politics Progressives Conservatives Conservatives Progressives Populists Libertarians New Right Social Democrats Cultural Politics Economic Politics Populists Libertarians New Right Social Democrats 20 th century politics shaped by the ongoing battles for/against Enlightenment values, or between various interpretations of Enlightenment values

5. Emerging Technologies Tech that will radically change the human brain: Psychopharmacology Genetic engineering Nanotechnology Artificial intelligence Cognitive science The accelerating convergence of all these “for improving human performance”

6. Human Enhancement Curing disabilities Health Longevity Intelligence Emotional control Heightened senses Spiritual experience Moral sentiment and cognition

7. Why Human Enhancement? Status Quo Bias Would it be better to have…. Shorter lives? More disabilities? Less intelligence? Less memory? Less happiness?

8. 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

9. 21 st Century Politics Economic Politics Biopolitics Progressive Conservative Progressive Conservative Cultural Politics Bioconservatism Transhumanism

10. From Bioethics to Biopolitics Public health and universal insurance Access to contraception Rights to refuse treatment, confinement Roe v. Wade Stem cells

11. 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

12. 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

13. 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)

14. 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

15. 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.

16. “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

17. Growing H+ Movement (World Transhumanist Association) transhumanism.org 30 chapters, 5500 members Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies ieet.org

18. H+ Politics Left H+ outnumber libertarians Conservatives 2-4%

19. Technoprogressivism Core Ideas: Equality and solidarity, as well as liberty Tech needs regulation and universal access “Technoprogressives” Institute for Ethics & Emerging Technologies ieet.org

20. Biopolitical Coalitions H+ Coalition BioCon Coalition A-Technoprogressives B-Libertarian transhumanists Economic Politics Biopolitics Progressive Conservative C A Progressive Conservative B D Cultural Politics Bioconservatism Transhumanism C-Left bioconservatives D-Right bioconservatives

21. TranshumanistsBioConservatives Personhood, cyborg citizenship Human-Racism (or Deep ecology) Humanism, reason, individual liberty, progress Sacred taboos, “the natural”, yuck factor, romanticism Risks are manageableRisks are unknowable; Punishment for hubris inevitable; Tech should be banned Central Biopolitical Disputes

22. Beyond Human-racism… Human-racism = Humanness as basis of rights-bearing Humans have souls or crypto-spiritual “human dignity” Fetus to cremation Embryonic citizens?

23. Boundaries of Humanness Animal-Human: Chimeras & “uplifted” animals Perinatal: Totipotent cells and artificial wombs Perideath: Brain repair Machine-Human: AGI & neuro-prosthetics Human-Posthuman: ?

24. 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

25. Five Moral Intuitions Liberals: Harm/care Fairness/reciprocity Conservatives Ingroup loyalty Respect for authority Purity/sanctity Jonathan Haidt

26. In-betweens are Dirty Purity and Danger Why aren’t pigs kosher? Cloven hoofs but don’t chew cud Mary Douglas

27. Uncanny Valley Masahiro Mori’s robots

28. Race-Mixing Panic

29. 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?

30. “They” Want Your Jobs

31. 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)

32. 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."

33. 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”

34. …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

35. 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

36. 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

37. Legitimate Risk Concerns: Safety, Efficacy, Equity Ensure technology is safe and effective Make tech accessible to all

38. Yuck Factor Stops Critical Thinking Bioconservative risk estimates are grounded in yuck factor so that tech bans seem only logical policy

39. 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.

40. 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

41. 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 doublethink Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies

42. 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

43. The Singularity Millenialist Kurzweil Apocalyptic Hugo de Garis Fatalist, Inevitabilist Messianic Yudkowsky Purity of code, danger of DNA Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies

44. Religious H+ & Singularitarians One quarter of H+ are religious Mormon Transhumanist Association largest H+ group in US

45. Dmitry Itskov Nikolai Fedorov (1829-1903) Russian H+: Pro-Putin v. liberal reformists v. anarchists Itskov’s Global Future 2045

46. For more information Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies ieet.org Me: james.hughes@trincoll.edu director@ieet.org james.hughes@trincoll.edu director@ieet.org