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Engineering Our Humanity

Melanie Challenger

For the first time, we have technologies that allow us to engineer what it is to be human. But will this make dreams of longer lives, endless health and even immortality come true? Or are we entering dystopia?

About the Course

The fourth industrial revolution brings with it both promise and peril. For the first time, we have technologies that allow us to engineer what it is to be human. Whether its synthetic bodies, or edited genes, the control we have over our biology is growing every day. But will this make dreams of longer lives, endless health and even immortality come true? Or are we entering dystopia?

 

By the end of the course, you will have learned:

 

  • A brief history of human enhancement
  • How gene editing has the power to change our lives, for better or worse
  • How modern technology can allow us to realistically modify our brains
  • The importace of establishing an ethics for this technology
  • The trouble with modern bioethics

 

As part of the course there are in-video quiz questions to consolidate your learning, and discussion boards to have your say.

 

IAI Academy courses are designed to be challenging but accessible to the interested student. No specialist knowledge is required.

 

 

 

About the Instructor

  • Melanie Challenger

    Melanie Challenger is a distinguished researcher of the history of humanity and the natural world, and environmental philosophy. Her latest book,' How to Be Animal: a new history of what it means to be human' was published by Canongate in 2021

Course Syllabus

  • Part One: The Game Changers
    The Game Changers Gene-editing technologies and brain-machine interfaces are possible pathways to enhance aspects of our biology. So how do these game changers work?
  • Part Two: Dream or Jeopardy?