Transhumanism, AI Rights, or Life Extension

Paper3:Transhumanism,AIRights,orLifeExtension

SafeAssignoniLearnandasaprintedcopyifyourTArequestsone.(CheckwithyourTAformoredetailsonsubmittingpapers.)

Chooseoneofthefollowingthreetopicsandwriteaboutfivefullpages(doublespaced,12ptfont)inresponse:1) TranshumanistslikeNickBostromandJamesHughesareexcitedbytheprospectof“exploringthepost-humanrealm”(Bostrom,2).Althoughtheyacknowledgethatthetranshumanistagendaofusingtechnologytoradicallytransformourwayoflifehasrealrisks,theyarguethattheserisksarenotseriousenoughtooutweighthepotentialbenefits.AnnasandAgar,however,argueagainsttranshumanism.Whiletheydisagreeaboutthepermissibilityofgeneticengineering(thatis,Agardefendsliberaleugenics,butAnnasthinksallgermlinegeneticengineeringshouldbeprohibited),theyagreethatthedangersofradicallytransformingthehumanspeciesoutweighthebenefits.Doyousupporttranshumanism?Whyorwhynot?Inyouranswer,youshouldfirstexplainwhattranshumanismisandwhyitappealstotranshumanists.Toaccomplishthis,useBostrom’sintroductiontotranshumanismin“HumanGeneticEngineering:ATranshumanistPerspective”.Then,drawingonadifferentreadingassignednoearlierthanWeek6(e.g.,Sandelisnotanoption)presentatleastoneobjectiontotranshumanism.SomegoodchoiceshereincludeAnnas,Agar,orMcKibben.Finally,defendyourownpositionontranshumanism.Ifyousupportit,justifyyoursupportbyexplainingwhytheobjectionyoupresenteddoesnotwork.Ifyouareagainsttranshumanism,explainwhy(eitherbyexplainingwhytheobjectionyoupresentedprovidesreasontorejecttranshumanismorbyprovidingsomeoriginalreasonforrejectingtranshumanism).

Inyourresponse,besuretoanswerallofthefollowingquestions:- Whatistranshumanism?- Whatisapost-human?- WhatisappealingabouttranshumanismtoBostrom?- Whatisoneobjectiontotranshumanism?- Doyousupporttranshumanism?Ifyoudo…o Why?Whatappealstoyouaboutit?o Whyistheobjectionyoupresentednotaseriousproblemfortranshumanism?Ifyoudonot…o Why?Whatiswrongwithtranshumanism?

2

o Doyouthinktheobjectionyoupresentedisaseriousproblemfortranshumanism?Ifso,why?Ifnot,whatdoyouthinkisaseriousproblemfortranshumanism?2) Itispossiblethathumanswillcreategeneralartificialintelligences(AIs)thatmeetorexceedhumancapacities.AsSchwitzgebelandGarzaarguein“ADefenseoftheRightsofArtificialIntelligences”,theseartificialintelligencesmaybeentitledtothesame(orgreater)moralstatusashumanbeings.ThecreationoftheseartificialintelligencesmayalsoleadtowhatRayKurzweilcallstheSingularity.Kurzweilisconvincedthatthecreationofconsciousartificialintelligencethatmeetsorexceedshumancapacitieswouldbeagoodthingoverall,butothers—forexample,BaslandAgar—arguethatitmayhavedisastrousconsequences.DoyouthinkhumansshouldattempttocreateaconsciousAIthatmeetsorexceedshumancapacities?Whyorwhynot?First,explainwhySchwitzgebelandGarzathinkthatAIsmaysomedaybeentitledtothesame(orgreater)moralstatusthanhumans.Then,explainKurzweil’svisionofthe(technological)SingularityaspresentedbyNicholasAgarin“TheTechnologist”.Finally,whydoyouthinkweshouldorshouldnotattempttocreateaconsciousAIthatmeetsorexceedshumanconsciousness?Toanswerthisquestionfully,youshouldpresentsomepossiblebenefitsandsomepotentialnegativeconsequencesofattemptingtocreatesuchanAI.(Tohelpwiththissectionofthepaper,youmayfindithelpfultorefertoourassignedreadingsfromBasl,Agar,Bostrom,Savulescu[thesecondonefrom5/15],Annas,Juengst,Overall,andMcKibben;butyouarenotrequiredtorefertoanyoftheseauthorsinyourpaper.)

Inyourresponse,besuretoanswerallofthefollowingquestions:- Whatisartificialintelligence?- Whatismoralstatus?- WhatisSchwitzgebelandGarza’sNoRelevantDifferenceArgument?- What,accordingtoKurzweil,istheSingularity?Whatwouldcauseit?Whatisan“intelligenceexplosion”?What,accordingtoKurzweil,wouldhappenasaresultoftheSingularity? Whataresomereasonsforthinkingthatcreatingaconsciousartificialintelligencethatmeetsorexceedshumancapacitieswouldbeagoodthing? Whataresomereasonsforthinkingthatcreatingaconsciousartificialintelligencethatmeetsorexceedshumancapacitieswouldbeabadthing? Whydoyouthinkthebenefitsofattemptingtocreateaconsciousartificialintelligencemeetsorexceedshumancapacitiesoutweighthenegativeconsequences,orviceversa?

3

3) AubreydeGreyarguesthatagingisacurablediseaseandthatweshoulddevoteconsiderableresourcestoresearchinganddevelopingtherapiesthatwouldeffectivelyeliminateorgreatlyslowthebiologicalprocessofaging.Hearguesthatthereisnoethicallyrelevantdifferencebetweencuringagingandothermoretraditionalwaysofsavinglives(e.g.,rescuingsomeonefromdrowningorcuringsomeone’sleukemia).Hence,peopleoughttowakeupfromtheirpro-agingtranceandjoinhiminhisurgentefforttocureaging.OthersarenotconvincedofthewisdomofdeGrey’seffortstocureaging.Assumingthatitispossibletoeliminateoratleastdrasticallyslowthebiologicalprocessofaging,doyouthinkweoughttotrytodoso?Whyorwhynot?First,presentdeGrey’sargumentin“LifeExtension,HumanRights,andtheRationalRefinementofRepugnance”fortheconclusionthatweoughttoattempttocureaging.Then,drawingononeoftheotherarticleswereadduringthesecondhalfofthisquarter,presentareasonforthinkingthatcuringagingwouldbewrongorthatcuringagingwouldhaveimportantnegativeconsequences.ReviewtheassignedreadingsfromGems,Overall,Davis,Agar,andMcKibbentofindpotentialproblemsthatwouldarisefromcuringaging.Then,explainwhyyouthinkthatweshouldorshouldnotattempttocureaging.IfyouagreewithdeGrey,youshouldexplainwhytheproblemyoupresentedisnotseriousenoughtounderminehisposition.IfyoudisagreewithdeGrey,youshouldexplainwhatiswrongwithdeGrey’sargument.Inyourresponse,besuretoanswerallofthefollowingquestions:- HowdoesdeGreyarguefortheconclusionthatweoughttocureaginginhumans?Whatroledohumanrightsplayinthisargument?WhydoesdeGreyconsiderpopularresistancetotheprospectofcuringagingtobeirrational? Whatis(atleast)oneseriousproblemwithcuringaging? Assumingcuringagingisbiologicallypossible,doyouthinkweshouldtrytocureaging?Ifyoudo…o Why?o Whyistheproblemwithcuringagingthatyoupresentednotseriousenoughtomakecuringagingwrongorundesirable?Ifyoudonot…o Why?o WhatiswrongwithdeGrey’s