Shirley Jackson's collection of dystopian short-form fiction The Lottery (and other stories) is a stark reminder of the fragility, banality and horror of the un-scrutinised human condition. It's all too easy to slip into group-think that priorities the "greater good" over the individual life. And once we have accepted that, it is a slippery slope to treating people … Continue reading The Lottery
Here's another question to throw into the heated (understatement of the year) debates around 1) the legality of abortion and 2) the validity of IQ scores. Ethical question: Should we encourage women to abort their low-IQ embryos? Because now we can test for that in utero. How we answer that question, as individuals, as cultures, … Continue reading Generation Alpha, IQ, and the Bifurcation of Everything
Can robots have rights? Should robots have rights? These deceptively big questions regarding "roborights" are shaping up to be among the Big Issues debated by law makers, scientists, engineers, and philosophers in 2019 - and far into the future. I read David J. Gunkel's Robot Rights to get a handle on where academia is "at" … Continue reading Robot Rights
I have already written about the inherent conflict between past, present and future generations for earthly resources. I thought, while I was at it, it was worth taking a few minutes to explore the future euthanasia and the great grey area mess of ethics around this concept. First, some definitions: Euthanasia is the practice of intentionally … Continue reading Senicide and other such things
Vampires, countesses and the battle for who owns the future - new blog post out now on #immortality and #generational conflict for scarce resources
