The RSA - Humanity 2.0

FORA.tv presents this video from The RSA - a discussion on the place of humanity in a post-human world.



 Humanity 2.0 from The RSA on FORA.tv

Humanity 2.0

Join Steve Fuller, Rachel Armstrong, China Mieville and Andy Miah as they ask: how will we ascribe status to human life in a ‘post-human’ world?

Our high-profile panel of speakers explore the hidden agendas behind our values and attitudes toward the place of ‘the human’ in today’s societies, and debate what must now be a key issue for the 21st century.

Rachel Armstrong

Dr Armstrong is an interdisciplinary researcher who has trained as a medical doctor and tutors fifth year MArch students in the modification of biological systems for their technical dissertations at The Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL.

She has also collaborated with international artists such as Helen Chadwick, Orlan and Stelarc who engaged with the technologies of extreme body modification and the impact of extreme environments on biological systems in projects that exemplified her broader interest in the way in which the environment can directly shape organisms through biotechnological interventions.

Her work currently focuses on the development of Metabolic Materials for Living Buildings where she works in collaboration with international architects and scientists.

Steve Fuller

Steve Fuller holds the Auguste Comte Chair in Social Epistemology in the Department of Sociology at the University of Warwick, UK.

He is acknowledged with founding social epistemology and has published over 17 books including Kuhn vs Popper and The Intellectual. His latest book is Humanity 2.0: What it Means to be Human Past, Present and Future (Palgrave Macmillan, 2011).

Andy Miah

Andy Miah, BA, MPhil, PhD, is Chair of Ethics and Emerging Technologies in the Faculty of Business & Creative Industries at the University of the West of Scotland, Fellow of the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies, USA and Fellow at FACT, the Foundation for Art and Creative Technology, UK.

He is author of "Genetically Modified Athletes" (2004 Routledge) and co-author with Dr Emma Rich of "˜The Medicalization of Cyberspace" (2008, Routledge) and Editor of "Human Futures: Art in an Age of Uncertainty" (2008, Liverpool University Press and FACT). Professor Miah's research discusses the intersections of art, ethics, technology and culture and he has published broadly in areas of emerging technologies, particularly related to human enhancement and the philosophical and ethical issues concerning technology in society.

China Mieville

China Miéville is the author of several works of fiction and non-fiction. 

His novels, which have won the Arthur C Clarke, Hugo, World Fantasy, British Science Fiction and British Fantasy Awards, include Embassytown, The City & the City, and Perdido Street Station.  His non-fiction includes Between Equal Rights, a study of international law. He teaches Creative Writing at Warwick University.