Transhumanism to the Forefront and Digital Technology Can't Save the World (Omnivore)

From Bookforum's Omnivore blog, two collections of technology-related links - one on transhumanism and one on digital technology.

Transhumanism to the forefront

Jan 29 2014
9:00AM

• Arthur Saniotis (Adelaide): Remaking Homo: Ethical Issues on Future Human Enhancement. 
• Gavin Rae (AUC Egypt): Heidegger’s Influence on Posthumanism: The Destruction of Metaphysics, Technology and the Overcoming of Anthropocentrism. 
• Brave New World, Plato’s Republic, and our scientific regime: Matthew J. Franck compares the utopian visions of Huxley and Plato. 
• Andy Miah reviews Better Humans? Understanding the Enhancement Project by Michael Hauskeller (and more). 
• New era of fast genetic engineering: A simple, very powerful method is making genome editing much easier and faster — prepare for a revolution in biology and medicine. 
• Biotechnology and other life sciences promise to transform our health, identity, even our brains — should we be worried? 
• Life as we grow it: Breanna Draxler on the promises and perils of synthetic biology. 
• Thomas Damberger on transhumanism and the being of man. 
• George Dvorsky on why you should upload yourself to a supercomputer. 
• Kamil Muzyka on how immortals and posthumans will require regular maintenance. 
• Are we too close to making Gattaca a reality? Ferris Jabr wonders. 
• Atheist voices and their writings have paved the way for us, and now the 21st Century will bring the age of transhumanism to the forefront of society.  
• Russell Blackford on his book Humanity Enhanced: Genetic Choice and the Challenge for Liberal Democracies. 
• Anyone calling for an end to politics, whether via secession or technocracy or singularity, either has no understanding of how human societies work (the generous interpretation) or has an authoritarian streak itching to show itself (the less-generous version).

* * * * *

Digital technology can't save the world

Jan 24 2014
3:00PM

• A T. Kingsmith (York): Virtual Roadblocks: The Securitisation of the Information Superhighway. 
• Archon Fung and Hollie Russon-Gilman (Harvard) and Jennifer Shkabatur (IDC): Six Models for the Internet and Politics. 
• Five key questions — and answers — about how our social horizons may shrink as we use more technology: Henry Farrell interviews Ethan Zuckerman, author of Rewire: Digital Cosmopolitans in the Age of Connection. 
• Have scientists found a way to pop the filter bubble? They say the key to exposing us to opposing views is to get them from people with whom we share other interests. 
• Scroll down your Facebook feed and see if you don’t find one ditto after another: So many people with “good” or “bad politics”, delivered with conviction to rage or applause; so little doubt, error, falsifiability — surely the criteria by which anything true, or democratic, could ever be found. 
• The NSA-disclosures have destroyed the utopia of the internet as a medium of freedom and democracy; instead it more and more becomes apparent that the internet is ruled by big companies and secret services — according to Evgeny Morozov a reevaluation of the medium is necessary. 
• Michael Meyer on Evgeny vs. the internet: Evgeny Morozov wants to convince us that digital technology can’t save the world, and he’s willing to burn every bridge from Cambridge to Silicon Valley to do it (and more by Joshua Cohen).