^CategoryEthics

Humanity Plus theme with abstract network lines and patterns

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Author
News
Date
June 12, 2022

Categorized
Ethics, Religion, Transhumanism

Tagged
Elaina George, Featured, Immortality in transhumanism, Living in the Solution (podcast), Recreationism, Transhumanism (and Christianity), Transhumanism and human cloning, Wesley J. Smith on transhumanism, Zoltan Istvan}

Transhumanism: Human, Computer, Animal — All Just a Choice Now…

_{AI and Big Biotech spawn the hope (in some) of merging with a computer or with a bat, maybe…} _{News

June 12, 2022

11

Ethics, Religion, Transhumanism}

In a recent Living in the Solution podcast with otolaryngologist and broadcaster Elaina George at Liberty Talk radio, Wesley J. Smith, lawyer and host of the Humanize podcast at Discovery Institute’s Center on Human Exceptionalism tackled the question of “Can You be a Christian and Believe in Transhumanism?” (June 4, 2022). Transhumanism or H+, as it is sometimes called, is a movement to create immortality through new biotechnology or merger with artificial intelligence (AI). Dr. Elaina George: I think transhumanism seems to be the next wave of things that are hip and now … As a Christian, is it something that we should even consider? Wesley Smith: Well, it depends on which transhumanists are talking. Most transhumanists are atheists and Read More ›

Deepfake concept matching facial movements with a different face of another person. Face swapping or impersonation.

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post

Author
News
Date
May 27, 2022

Categorized
Ethics, Machine Learning, Peer Review

Tagged
Deepfakes (detection), Deepfakes (in science journals), Deepfakes (methods of creation)}

The Threat That Deepfakes Pose to Science Journals

_{Image manipulation has been a problem for decades but convincing deepfakes could magnify the problem considerably} _{News

May 27, 2022

5

Ethics, Machine Learning, Peer Review}

When a team of researchers at Xiamen University decided to create and test deepfakes of conventional types of images in science journals, they came up with a sobering surprise. Their deepfakes were easy to create and hard to detect. Generating fake photographs in this way, the researchers suggest, could allow miscreants to publish research papers without doing any real research. Bob Yirka, “Computer scientists suggest research integrity could be at risk due to AI generated imagery” at Tech Explore (May 25, 2022) They created the deepfakes in a conventional way by starting with a competition between two powerful computer systems: To demonstrate the ease with which fake research imagery could be generated, the researchers generated some of their own using Read More ›

Engineers Meeting in Robotic Research Laboratory: Engineers, Scientists and Developers Gathered Around Illuminated Conference Table, Talking, Using Tablet and Analysing Design of Industrial Robot Arm

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post

Author
News
Date
May 23, 2022

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Data Privacy, Ethics

Tagged
Featured, Gary Smith, Jeffrey Funk, John Ioannidis (on Theranos), LaMDA (claims for understanding), LaMDA (kept under wraps), Large language models (lack of accountability), Margaret Mitchell, Salon (magazine), Satrajit Chatterjee, Stealth AI research, Theranos, Timnit Gebru}

At Salon, Funk and Smith Take On “Stealth AI Research”

_{All we know for sure about the claims about Google AI’s LaMDA showing human-like understanding is that, since 2020, three researchers who expressed doubt/concerns were fired} _{News

May 23, 2022

4

Artificial Intelligence, Data Privacy, Ethics}

Yesterday at Salon, Jeffrey Funk and Gary N. Smith took a critical look at “stealth research” in artificial intelligence. Stealth research? They explain, A lot of stealth research today involves artificial intelligence (AI), which Sundar Pichai, Alphabet’s CEO, has compared to mankind’s harnessing of fire and electricity — a comparison that itself attests to overhyped atmosphere that surrounds AI research. For many companies, press releases are more important than peer review. Blaise Agüera y Arcas, the head of Google’s AI group in Seattle, recently reported that LaMDA, Google’s state-of-the-art large language model (LLM), generated this text, which is remarkably similar to human conversation: Blaise: How do you know if a thing loves you back? LaMDA: There isn’t an easy answer Read More ›

multiracial group with black african American Caucasian and Asian hands holding each other wrist in tolerance unity love and anti racism concept

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post

Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
May 22, 2022

Categorized
Environment, Ethics, Philosophy of Mind

Tagged
Human exceptionalism (opposition), Human rights and human exceptionalism, Jeff Sebo, Wesley J. Smith (on human exceptionalism)}

Prof: We Shouldn’t Necessarily Value Humans Over Other Animals

_{New York University environmentalism prof Jeff Sebo argues that humans are not always rational and that some animals display mental qualities so we aren’t exceptional} _{Denyse O'Leary

May 22, 2022

5

Environment, Ethics, Philosophy of Mind}

New York University environmentalism prof Jeff Sebo, co-author of Chimpanzee Rights (2018), sees human exceptionalism (the idea that there is something unique about human beings) as a danger to humans and other life forms. He does not think that we should necessarily prioritize humans over animals: Most humans take this idea of human exceptionalism for granted. And it makes sense that we do, since we benefit from the notion that we matter more than other animals. But this statement is still worth critically assessing. Can we really justify the idea that some lives carry more ethical weight than others in general, and that human lives carry more ethical weight than nonhuman lives in particular? And even if so, does it Read More ›

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Author
Michael Egnor
Date
May 15, 2022

Categorized
Ethics, Philosophy of Mind

Tagged
Abortion (fetus as not a person), Aristotle (on act and potency), Featured, Fetus (and rational thought), Jerry Coyne (on abortion), Metaphysics (of human development), Persons (as legal concept), Soul (concept), Zygote (and rational thought)}

Must We Be Able To Reason To Be Thought Of As Human Persons?

_{A common argument as to why abortion is generally ethical is that the unborn child cannot reason} _{Michael Egnor

May 15, 2022

6

Ethics, Philosophy of Mind}

Perhaps the most common justification that abortion proponents give for supporting abortion is that the human embryo or fetus isn’t capable of rational thought — and rational thought is the defining characteristic of humanity. They’re wrong in a fundamental way. How they’re wrong is best understood if we look at the metaphysics of human development. Metaphysics is “The branch of philosophy that examines the nature of reality, including the relationship between mind and matter, substance and attribute, fact and value.” (American Heritage Dictionary) The ancient philosopher Aristotle (384–322 BC), who provided an important foundation for science, pointed out that humans are rational animals. That is, we have at least the possibility of rational thought, although at some stages of life Read More ›

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post

Author
Gary Varner
Date
May 7, 2022

Categorized
Arts & Culture, Ethics

Tagged
Featured, Firefly Episode 13}

Firefly Episode 13: If You Are Stuck at Home in a Rainstorm…

_{Otherwise, you may just want to skip this one. But let me explain why} _{Gary Varner

May 7, 2022

9

Arts & Culture, Ethics}

You may remember the classic Western, Unforgiven (1992) directed by and starring Clint Eastwood. It’s the sad tale of a lonely farmer who had recently lost his wife. He was, at one point, a cold-hearted gunman. He decides to take one final job, adopting his dark earlier persona for the last time so he can provide a better life for his kids. His job is to kill a local sheriff who has been harassing prostitutes in a small Western town. It’s a story with no real good guys that leaves us with the infamous line, “We all have it coming.” I think this episode of Firefly tried to emulate the Western. But it does a terrible job. Before discussing the Read More ›

eurpean siblings brother and sister quarelling

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Author
J.R. Miller
Date
May 2, 2022

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Ethics

Tagged
E. O. Wilson, Evolutionary psychology, Featured}

Why AI Can’t Save Us From Ourselves — If Evolution Is Any Guide

_{Famous evolutionary theorist E. O. Wilson’s reflections help us understand} _{J.R. Miller

May 2, 2022

5

Artificial Intelligence, Ethics}

The late E. O. Wilson (1929–2021) received more than one hundred awards for his research and writing, including two Pulitzer Prizes. As a professor at Harvard University, Wilson influenced generations with his ideas about human evolution and ethics. In his 2012 New York Times essay “Evolution and Our Inner Conflict,” Wilson asked two key question regarding the problem of evil in our world: Are human beings intrinsically good but corruptible by the forces of evil, or the reverse, innately sinful yet redeemable by the forces of good? Are we built to pledge our lives to a group, even to the risk of death, or the opposite, built to place ourselves and our families above all else? Wilson believed that humans Read More ›

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Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
April 20, 2022

Categorized
Ethics, Natural Intelligence

Tagged
Animals (ethical sense), Frans de Waal (on chimpanzees and ethics), James Hutton}

Claim: Research Shows That Animals Have a Moral Sense

_{We are informed at Nautilus, the Templeton Foundation’s magazine, that “ It’s time to take moral emotion in animals seriously.” Really?} _{Denyse O'Leary

April 20, 2022

4

Ethics, Natural Intelligence}

Philosopher James Hutton starts out his article as a sort of a “trick.” He describes the animals he works with as if they were colleagues. Then, in paragraph four, he announces, “But there are a couple of important details about Amy and Sidney that you should know. The first is that they aren’t workers in any conventional sense, but participants in an experiment.” Coming to the point, they’re dogs. And anyone who had been reading carefully would realize that they were animals, probably dogs or horses. But now here is the supposed big revelation from the University of Vienna experiments Hutton describes: The first big idea is that the moral attitudes of human beings are thoroughly emotional in nature. Of Read More ›

Woman fist with woke written. Woke concept refers to awareness of social and racial justice, concern, vigilance, activism.

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post

Author
News
Date
April 10, 2022

Categorized
Ethics, Philosophy, Relationships, Religion

Tagged
Abortion (Catholic perspective), Abortion (Hindu perspective), Arjuna Gallagher, Cancel culture, Euthanasia (Catholic perspective), Euthanasia (Hindu perspective), Featured, Hinduism (approaches to social issues), Howard Resnick (on abortion), Jonathan Haidt, Michael Egnor, Microaggressions, Tulsi Gabbard (on abortion), Woke culture}

A Catholic and a Hindu Tackle Woke culture

_{In a wide-ranging discussion, Michael Egnor and Arjuna Gallagher look at Woke culture, abortion, euthanasia, and microaggressions} _{News

April 10, 2022

22

Ethics, Philosophy, Relationships, Religion}

In a recent series of Mind Matters News, podcasts, neurosurgeon Michael Egnor interviewed Arjuna Gallagher, a Hindu who lives in New Zealand. The first podcast looked at what the world’s 1.2 billion Hindus generally think about the mind and the second explored the Hindu view of free will and evil. The third podcast addressed the question, “What do Hindus think about the Big Bang?” Now, the fourth and final podcast asks, what do Hindus think of current science and culture issues, especially the flowering of Woke Cancel Culture, abortion, and euthanasia? Gallagher hosts a YouTube channel called Theology Unleashed, which has featured many guests discussing the spiritual dimension of our lives — for example, philosopher David Bentley Hart and neuroscientist Read More ›

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post

Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
April 5, 2022

Categorized
Ethics, Natural Intelligence

Tagged
David P. Barash, David P. Barash (on worms and pain), Pain in animals, Richard Dawkins (on animal suffering), Sentience (in invertebrates), Suffering (in animals), Worms (and pain)}

Evolutionary Psychologist Argues That Worms Feel Pain. But How?

_{Wait. Barash’s hypothesis overlooks the fact that suffering is more than an alarm system. An alarm could be going off in an empty building} _{Denyse O'Leary

April 5, 2022

8

Ethics, Natural Intelligence}

A web site for fans of earthworms tackled the question recently: Yes, it is now accepted that worms feel pain – and that includes when they are cut in half. They do not anticipate pain or feel pain as an emotional response, however. They simply move in response to pain as a reflex response. They may curl up or move away, for example, from painful or negative stimuli. Aimen Mirza, “Do worms feel pain? (Can Earthworms Sense Painful Stimuli?)” at WORMMY (October 12, 2021) Possibly in line with the growing support for panpsychism in science, University of Washington evolutionary psychology professor David P. Barash, asks us to consider that worms do indeed feel pain in a deeper sense than an Read More ›

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post

Author
News
Date
April 4, 2022

Categorized
Ethics, Medicine and Health, Neuroscience, Philosophy of Mind

Tagged
Andrew Jackson, Body transplants, Brain That Wouldn’t Die (film 1962), Brandy Schillace, Craig Vetovitz, Head transplants, Max G. Levy, Michael Egnor (on partial brain transplants), Mr. Humble and Dr Butcher (book), Partial brain transplants, Quadriplegia (and head transplants), Robert White (head transplants), Sergio Canavero (head transplants), Valery Spiridonov, Xiaoping Ren (head transplants)}

What Would Head or Partial Brain Transplants Do To Consciousness?

_{Researchers had some success swapping rodent heads (though there’s a catch) but no luck with monkeys. And then animal lovers weighed in…} _{News

April 4, 2022

7

Ethics, Medicine and Health, Neuroscience, Philosophy of Mind}

Science writer Max G. Levy, profiling Brandy Schillace’s book, Mr. Humble and Dr. Butcher (2021), reminds us of the strange case of neurosurgeon Dr. Robert White (1926–2010) and his quest to develop human head transplants — or, as he liked to put it, body transplants. A new body for your old head… an offbeat form of immortality. White started with rhesus monkeys. At Case Western Reserve University, starting in 1970, he attempted many such transplants. Only one attempt succeeded (sort of). Without the usual spinal connections and thus without access to a body, the monkey head lived only nine days. Another such monkey head transplant was reported in 2016 — carried out by Xiaoping Ren at Harbin Medical University, China Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
March 27, 2022

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Ethics, Work

Tagged
Boston Dynamics (and Uncanny Valley), Ecclesiastes (on work), End of Work (book), Featured, Frankenstein Complex, Gretchen Huizinga, John Tamny, Robert J. Marks, Uncanny Valley, WALL-E (film), Walter Bradley (impact)}

Lead Us Not Into the Uncanny Valley …

_{Robert Marks and Gretchen Huizinga discuss whether future developments in artificial intelligence will lead to a better future or a worse one} _{News

March 27, 2022

10

Artificial Intelligence, Ethics, Work}

This is the fourth and final segment of the the recent podcast, “What Does It Mean to Be Human in an Age of Artificial Intelligence?”, featuring Walter Bradley Center director Robert J. Marks and veteran podcaster Gretchen Huizinga. In the first segment, they discussed what AI can and can’t do. In the second segment, they discussed “How did all the AI hype get started?” Then, in the third part, the discussion turned to “Straight talk about killer robots/a>” because Dr. Marks is the author of The Case for Killer Robots. And now we come at last to the Uncanny Valley, where too much AI and robotics risks making everything weird. The entire interview was originally published by Christian think tank, Read More ›

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Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
March 25, 2022

Categorized
Ethics, Natural Intelligence

Tagged
Crabs (emotion), Cruelty (and invertebrates), Decapods (emotion), How To Study Animal Minds (book), Infants (pain), Kristin Andrews}

Researchers Ask—Serious Question — Do Crabs Have Emotions?

_{Recent research has created some unexpected ethical problems for the seafood industry} _{Denyse O'Leary

March 25, 2022

4

Ethics, Natural Intelligence}

At one time, the question of whether crabs or squid had emotions would seem ridiculous. Dogs and cats have emotions but squid and crabs don’t. Right? But in recent decades, it has become evident that there is no straightforward evolutionary path to “smartness.” What about the ability to experience pain or emotion as a dog or cat would? “A London School of Economics (LSE) report commissioned by the U.K. government found there is strong enough evidence to conclude that decapod crustaceans and cephalopod molluscs are sentient,” says York University Professor and philosopher Kristin Andrews, the York Research Chair in Animal Minds, who is working with the LSE team. Andrews co-wrote an article published today in the journal Science, “The question Read More ›

Hinduism religious ceremony puja flowers and candle on river Ganges water, India

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post

Author
News
Date
March 22, 2022

Categorized
Ethics, Philosophy of Mind, Religion

Tagged
Alvin Plantinga (argument against naturalism), Arjuna Gallagher, Case Against Reality (book), David Bentley Hart, Donald Hoffman, Doors of the Sea (book), Experience of God (book), Featured, Free will (in Hindu tradition), Hindu cosmology, Jivatma, Mathematics (and group selection), Mathematics skills (and evolution), Michael Egnor, Naturalism (evolutionary arguments), Problem of evil (and Hindu tradition), Problem of evil (as argument for God), Problem of evil (as incomprehensible), Rancher Prime, Sat-Chit-Ananda, Tattva (Hindu concept)}

Understanding the Hindu View of Free Will and Evil

_{Arjuna Gallagher points out that concepts of reincarnation and karma make both problems look very different in the Hindu tradition} _{News

March 22, 2022

16

Ethics, Philosophy of Mind, Religion}

In last week’s Mind Matters News podcast, “Hinduism, Metaphysics, and Free Will,” neurosurgeon Michael Egnor again interviews Arjuna Gallagher, a Hindu in New Zealand. (The earlier podcast was Hinduism, Reincarnation, and the Mind–Body Problem.) Gallagher hosts a YouTube channel called Theology Unleashed, which has featured many guests discussing the spiritual dimension of our lives — philosopher David Bentley Hart, neuroscientist Mark Solms, atheist Matt Dillahunty… a variety of voices on the spiritual life. Gallagher has also produced a documentary, The Persecuted Saints You’ve Never Heard Of about the persecution of Orthodox Christian monks. https://mindmatters.ai/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/03/Mind-Matters-News-Episode-178-Arjuna-Gallagher-Episode-2-rev1.mp3 A partial transcript, notes, Show Notes, and Additional Resources follow: Michael Egnor: In our last session, we talked a little bit about the evolutionary argument against Read More ›

AI Cyberpunk Konzept: Transhuman / Cyborg Kopf mit Sonnenbrille; Neon beleuchtet + leuchtend | 3D Render Illustration [4K]

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Author
J.R. Miller
Date
March 20, 2022

Categorized
Ethics, Transhumanism

Tagged
Featured, Imago dei concept (and transhumanism), Transhumanism (and dehumanization), Transhumanism (ethics)}

Why the Imago Dei (Image of God) Shuts the Door on Transhumanism

_{As the belief that technology promises us a glorious post-human future advances among scholar who profess Christianity, we must ask some hard questions} _{J.R. Miller

March 20, 2022

6

Ethics, Transhumanism}

Transhumanist ideology is advancing among scholars who profess Christianity so the question must be asked, is the dream of a post-human (Human+) existence compatible with the Christian faith? More specifically, is transhumanism (H+) compatible with the doctrine of Adam and Eve as the first humans created in the “image of God” (imago Dei)? The answer is no. The biblical doctrine that God’s image exists in every human person — and also in humanity as a whole — shuts the door to transhumanism. We can see this if we look at what the Bible teaches about anthropology, ethics, and salvation in Christ alone. Anthropology: Who does the Bible say that we are? First, the transhumanist history of human origins and Human+ Read More ›

Sculptor artist creating a bust sculpture with clay

^{Type
post

Author
Gary Varner
Date
March 19, 2022

Categorized
Arts & Culture, Ethics, Relationships

Tagged
Adam Baldwin, Featured, Jayne Cobb (character in Firefly), Malcolm Reynolds (character in Firefly), Simon Tam (character in Firefly)}

Firefly Episode 7: Jayne Can’t Live With Himself As a Hero

_{Jayne Cobb, otherwise dumb muscle, once helped many people — inadvertently — and is stuck with deadly consequences when the truth emerges} _{Gary Varner

March 19, 2022

10

Arts & Culture, Ethics, Relationships}

After the strong “Stagecoach” rebound of Episode 6, Episode 7 focuses on Jayne Cobb. Up to now, the dumb muscle has mainly been comic relief. But when Mal and his crew stop by a planet to retrieve some smuggled cargo — under the pretense of ordering a shipment of mud used to make ceramic parts — we learn a little more about the big man’s past. As the crew exits the Serenity to pick up the goods, they come across a giant mud statue… of Jayne. He has no idea why the statue is there but, come to think of it, he’s been acting nervous throughout the mission. Years ago, we learn, things went south at a job he was Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
March 14, 2022

Categorized
Ethics, Philosophy of Mind, Religion

Tagged
Arjuna Gallagher, Euthyphro dilemma in philosophy, Featured, God (in Hinduism), Hare Krishna (beliefs), Hinduism, Karma, Michael Egnor, Problem of evil (in Hinduism), Reincarnation, Soul (in Hinduism), Vaishnava Hinduism}

What Do the World’s 1.2 Billion Hindus Think About the Mind?

_{Neurosurgeon Michael Egnor interviews Hindu Arjuna Gallagher on the similarities and differences between that tradition and Western theism} _{News

March 14, 2022

22

Ethics, Philosophy of Mind, Religion}

In our most recent Mind Matters News podcast, “Hinduism, Reincarnation, and the Mind–Body Problem,” neurosurgeon Michael Egnor interviews Arjuna Gallagher, a Hindu in New Zealand. Gallagher hosts a YouTube channel called Theology Unleashed, which features an array of guests who have something to say about the spiritual dimension of our lives — philosopher David Bentley Hart, neuroscientist Mark Solms, atheist Matt Dillahunty… a variety of voices that can help us understand the intellectual climate in which we live. Gallagher has also produced a documentary, The Persecuted Saints You’ve Never Heard Of.about the persecution of Orthodox Christian monks. https://mindmatters.ai/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/03/Mind-Matters-News-Episode-177-Arjuna-Gallagher-Episode-1-rev1.mp3 A partial transcript and notes, Show Notes, and Additional Resources follow. Michael Egnor: I don’t know a lot about Hinduism, and I Read More ›

warhead on transport stand, against a rocket. Weapons of mass destruction. Nuclear weapons, chemical weapons, a bomb.

^{Type
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Author
Forrest M. Mims III
Date
March 9, 2022

Categorized
Ethics, Medicine and Health, Military

Tagged
Featured, Harry Truman (and atomic bomb), Hiroshima (atomic bomb), Hydrogen bomb (vs atomic bomb), Radiation sickness (Hiroshima fallout), Trinity site (atomic bomb test)}

What Would a Real-World Nuclear Attack Be Like?

_{We know some of what it would be like from the records and reconstruction of the atomic bomb attack on Hiroshima} _{Forrest M. Mims III

March 9, 2022

6

Ethics, Medicine and Health, Military}

Since 1992, I’ve made annual visits to one of the most tranquil places I know, Hawaii’s Mauna Loa Observatory 11,200 feet above the Pacific Ocean. After calibrating my atmospheric instruments, every evening I photograph the sunset while thinking about the horrors of nuclear war. That’s because I’m standing behind the old Atomic Energy Commission Building, from where nuclear tests over the Pacific were once photographed. The origin of those tests occurred 38 minutes before sunrise on July 16, 1945, when the pitch-black sky over New Mexico’s Jornada del Muerto (Journey of Death) desert was instantaneously transformed into a blinding white glare. Scientists and technicians observed this phenomenon from miles away through welder’s glass to protect their eyes. What they saw Read More ›

Texture of multi-colored sweet marshmallows. Marshmallows candy for background.

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
March 1, 2022

Categorized
Education, Ethics, Neuroscience, Philosophy of Mind

Tagged
Chris Loper, Daniel Benjamin, Delayed gratification (Marshmallow test), Marshmallow Test, Prefrontal cortex (and impulse control), Tyler W. Watts, Walter Mischel}

Can Waiting for a Marshmallow Predict a Child’s Future?

_{Believing so was all the rage in recent decades but later research didn’t back up the idea} _{News

March 1, 2022

8

Education, Ethics, Neuroscience, Philosophy of Mind}

You’ve maybe heard of Stanford University’s “marshmallow experiment,” right? A child’s future can be predicted, we were told by psychologist Walter Mischel (1930–2018), by whether the child can delay gratification: Walter Mischel’s pioneering research at Bing in the late 1960s and early 1970s famously explored what enabled preschool-aged children to forgo immediate gratification in exchange for a larger but delayed reward… This research identified some of the key cognitive skills, strategies, plans and mindsets that enable self-control. If the children focused on the “hot” qualities of the temptations (e.g., “The marshmallows are sweet, chewy, yummy”), they soon rang the bell to bring the researcher back. If they focused on their abstract “cool” features (“The marshmallows are puffy and round like Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
February 27, 2022

Categorized
Arts & Culture, Environment, Ethics, Medicine and Health, Science

Tagged
Adam Frank (on Kardashev Scale), Aurora hypothesis, Dark Forest Hypothesis, Extraterrestrial life (contamination), Galaxy (creating galaxies), Gordon Gallup, Great Filter Hypothesis, Kardashev Scale (humans rated), Tersicoccus phoenicis}

Future Technologies — Zoom! … or Doom?

_{Astrophysicist Adam Frank sees a new role for us as galaxy gods as exhilarating but others aren’t so sure} _{News

February 27, 2022

8

Arts & Culture, Environment, Ethics, Medicine and Health, Science}

Astrophysicist Adam Frank asks us to consider where we are on the Kardashev Scale for evaluating civilizations in the galaxy — or, at least, evaluating our own progress: Originally proposed in 1964 by Nikolai Kardashev (1932–2019) and later modified in 1973 by Carl Sagan (1934–1996), the scale measures a civilization’s technological advances from 1 to 3 (or maybe 5) by how much energy it can call upon to do things. Currently, we are not even a Type 1 on that scale and Frank offers some thoughts on that, asking, in particular, whether such advances are universal in the galaxy anyway: The classification scheme Kardashev used was not based on social systems of ethics because these are things that we can Read More ›