Imagine using technology to completely redesign human bodies and minds, with medical facilities becoming spare parts stores. Is this a feasible vision of our future? This question lies at the heart of our next HumanTech Meeting. We are honored to welcome Dr. Rebecca Gibson from Virginia Commonwealth University and Dr. Aleksandra Łukaszewicz-Alcaraz, an expert in philosophical aesthetics, to lead our discussion.
Cyborg persons
In our exploration of the person-cyborg paradigm, we delve into the following questions: Is technology reshaping humanity to the extent that we are entering a post-human era? Are we inevitably moving towards the merger of man and machine? And what ethical dilemmas accompany progress when we consider using implants and prostheses not only to compensate for our impairments but also to improve our abilities?
Our speakers will shed light on these questions. Dr. Rebecca Gibson, anthropologist at Virginia Commonwealth University, USA, and author of the book "Desire in the Age of Robots and AI: An Investigation in Science Fiction and Fact" and Dr. Aleksandra Łukaszewicz-Alcaraz, expert in philosophical esthetics and art and cultural theory, and author of the book "Are Cyborgs Persons? An Account on Futurist Ethics," will share their insights on identity, ethics and the future of humanity amidst our increasing integration with technology.
The lectures will be followed by a panel discussion with experts dealing with human transformation under the influence of technology. Together, we will examine the challenges and moral implications of posthumanism and transhumanism.
Dr. Konrad Maj, Head of the Center for Social and Technological Innovation HumanTech at SWPS University, will open the meeting. The panel discussion will be moderated by Joanna Sosnowska, Head of "Jutronauci" project at Wyborcza.pl.
Lectures will be held in Polish and English and will be translated simultaneously.
HumanTech Meetings
We live in an era of innovation, technological progress and digitalization. This current innovation drive may lead to unpredictable psychological and social outcomes. Therefore, it is crucial to establish collaborations between engineers, programmers, IT specialists and social scientists during initial phases of any new projects related to development of new technologies or services. Such collaborations may help to avoid mistakes and can support better development of new ideas.
The project is planned as a series of meetings, gathering academics and professionals from the technology sector from Poland and other countries. Each meeting will include two lectures, one delivered by a speaker from Poland and one presented by a guest from another country. The lectures will be followed by panel discussions, where panelists will represent different approaches to innovation and technology.
HumanTech Meetings is a project of SWPS University's Center for Social and Technological Innovation.
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Aleksandra Łukaszewicz-Alcaraz: Expanding the "Kingdom of Ends". Non-human Persons and Their Moral Status From the Perspective of Psychological Research
In modern social reality, we interact not only with other members of our species but also with various beings of both biological and technological nature. At the same time, we as a species undergo a progressive intentional technological transformation forcing us to ask ourselves whether, being ourselves, we are still human and what that would mean. Species affiliation, which is the stance of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, is an insufficient basis for protecting the rights of individuals, different kinds of persons or entities operating in society. I believe that it may be helpful to shift our focus from the ideologically loaded concept of a "human being" to that of a "human person." The latter implies the existence of other persons, not only human, yet equally significant. Following Joseph Margolis, I see the human person as an embodied, encultured and enlanguaged being who consciously functions in society. Other embodiments are possible that allow a person to function in society other than just a human one. Cyborg persons (such as Neil Harbisson), hybrid persons, and persons subjected to genetic manipulation (CRISPR children) are undoubtedly persons, although it is difficult to try to impose on them the status of human persons. To address this situation at the ethical level, it is necessary, as a first step, to recognize the possibility of an ethics that includes subjects other than just human beings. This process of inclusion clearly began with Peter Singer's "Animal Liberation" (1975). However, since an animal, like a child, for Singer is a subject of moral reflection (moral subject) and not a moral spawn (moral agent), Singer's perspective is insufficient in this case. For it is necessary to recognize the Other, the non-human person as a person precisely. For Immanuel Kant, what determines the inalienable value of man, whom he viewed as biologically defined, is his rationality. Thanks to it, the man belongs to the "kingdom of ends." Updating Kant's thought by abandoning the absolutization of rationality and moving into the realm of the modern theory of mind, it can be pointed out that perceiving another as similar to us, as having a mind requires recognizing him or her as susceptible, prone to suffering (axis of experience) and also capable, able to act intentionally (axis of causality) (Gray, Gray, Wegner 2007). The research I conducted with Paweł Fortuna in 2022 involved a group of 322 Polish men and women, who compared different subjects—a human person, a cyborg person, a fembot, a social animal robot, and an algorithm—in terms of recognizing them as moral subjects on the grounds of theory of mind perception. The findings revealed that the attribution of moral status is not binary, but gradual, fluid and transitional, differentiating on the scales of experience and causality. Thus, it is conceivable to expand the Kantian "kingdom of ends" so that there is room in it for more beings than just rational representatives of the Homo sapiens species. But how to determine the proper scope is a question for a separate discussion.
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Rebecca Gibson: Are We Medically Post-Human? Moving Fictional Cyborg Technology to the Real World
While fiction often far outpaces technology, it can provide an impetus for the implementation of technological developments, showing us what may be possible if only we think outside of the devices, treatments, and procedures that currently exist. Yet, concurrently with changing technology, we must envision a change in the mindset of both patients and medical professionals. Much of the medicine of the future, which will be tasked with solving such issues as kidney failure, glucose monitoring, the signs and symptoms of aging, and the loss of bodily senses such as sight, hearing, and touch, will include cybernetic implantation—the integration of mechanical, electrical, or electronics/computer-based technology into the body in a way that augments or replaces body parts that were once organically human. Can we embrace that? Can we become medically post-human? To answer this question, we will look at the world of The Matrix franchise, existing cyborg technology, and ideas of posthumanism and transhumanism.
Keynote Speakers
Rebecca Gibson
Ph.D. / Assistant Professor
Is an Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Virginia Commonwealth University (USA). Her published works include “Desire in the Age of Robots and AI: An Investigation in Science Fiction and Fact” (Palgrave Macmillan, 2019) and “The Corseted Skeleton: A Bioarchaeology of Binding” (Palgrave Macmillan, 2020). She holds a Ph.D. in anthropology from American University, and when not writing or teaching can be found reading mystery novels amidst a pile of stuffed animals.
Aleksandra Łukaszewicz-Alcaraz
Ph.D.
Holds a post-doctoral degree (habilitacja) in culture and religion studies. She specializes in philosophical esthetics and theory of art and culture. Aleksandra serves as Vice President of the Polish Society for Aesthetics. She is a recipient of several awards and grants, including a Kosciuszko Foundation Scholarship (2017) for research on the philosophy of art culture and esthetics at Temple University in Philadelphia under the guidance of Professor Joseph Margolis. Aleksandra is also the coordinator of the international research consortia TICASS and TPAAE, which carry out projects on visual communication, visual literacy, art and education from an intercultural perspective. Their work is funded by the European Commission under the MSCA-RISE H2020 program. She is the author of the book "Are Cyborg Persons? An Account on Futurist Ethics" (Palgrave Macmillan, 2021).