Our Posthuman Future

Our Posthuman Future by Francis Fukuyama & Biotech Unit

Full searchable text of book: Our Posthuman Future by Francis Fukuyama (PDF)
Full searchable text of book: Consumer’s Guide to a Brave New World by Wesley J. Smith (PDF)

Unit Objectives

The guiding questions for this unit concern views of humanity and personhood. We will be evaluating the fiction we read in terms of 21st century real-world applications, particularly in these areas: the posthumanist and transhumanist movements, genetic engineering, designer babies, egg harvesting, organ harvesting, animal-human hybrids (chimeras), human cloning,
human embryo stem cell research, embryonic beauty treatments, selective reduction eugenics, and neuropharmacology. The unit will culminate in a reading of Brave New World by Aldous Huxley.

Guiding questions for the unit:
    - What is human dignity? What are human rights? What is personhood?
    - What is human nature? Do we have a right to manipulate human nature?
    - When does one begin to be and cease to be human?
    - When does a person go beyond being human? Or is it even possible?
    - What are the ramifications of today’s biotechnology revolution?
    - What does contemporary and classic literature have to say about today’s biotechnology revolution?
    - What can we learn from literature to help us live in the 21st century?

Required Reading & Downloads

Introductory Material
Fallacies of Argument Lesson (PDF)
Note-taking for a Research Paper (PPT)
Formulating a Thesis (PPT)

Assignments
Argumentative Research Paper on Biotech Issue: An Overview (PDF)
Fallacies of Argument eWorksheet (DOC)
Quoting, Paraphrasing, and Summarizing eWorksheet (DOC)

Articles & Short Stories
"No Woman Born" by C. L. Moore (PDF)
"The Whisperer in Darkness" by H.P. Lovecraft (PDF)
"Self-Made Man" (PDF)
“The Coming Age of the Flesh Machine” by Tim Druckrey (PDF)

Biotech Resources

Articles
Animal-Human Hybrids Spark Controversy (National Geo)
Human Brain Cells Are Grown in Mice (Washington Post)
Pharm Animals Crank Out Drugs (WIRED)
Neuropharmacology: Placebos Are Getting More Effective (WIRED)
The Human Body as New Commodity (Tokuyama University)
Scientists to Clone Woolly Mammoth in Five Years (PC World)
Brain-boosting "cosmetic neurology" on the horizon (Seattle Times)
The Singularity: Humanity's Last Invention? (NPR)
The Robot that Reads Your Mind to Train Itself (BBC)
Genetic modification: glow-in-the-dark lifesavers or mutant freaks? (The Guardian)
Research Breakthrough: Human Clones May Be Genetically Viable (WIRED)
Implanted Fuel Cell Powered by Rat's Body Fluids (National Geo)
TED 2011: Print-on-Demand Organs the Future of Medicine (WIRED)
China Selling Prisoners' Organs (BBC)
Executed prisoners are main source of Chinese organ donations (The Guardian)
Mind Uploading and the Singularity (Popsci)
Engineered chickens can't pass on flu (New Scientist)
Can Genes Be Patented? Ruling Reignites Debate (PBS)
Printing Out New Ears and Skin (BBC)
Organ Trafficking: Not Just Urban Legend (Newsweek)
Inside the Business of Selling Human Body Parts (WIRED)
Researchers Say They Created a ‘Synthetic Cell’ (NY Times)
The Singularity: 2045, the Year Man Becomes Immortal (TIME)
Mind vs. Machine (The Atlantic)

Websites
Culture of Life Foundation: Science & Medicine
CERC: Bioethics
Science & Technology in the Catechism
Infertility Drugs & Selective Reduction
Fertility Factories & Egg Harvesting
Transhumanism & Posthumanism (Lifeboat)
Wesley J. Smith Archive
Center for Bioethics & Culture
Extropy Institute
The Institute for Ethics & Emerging Technologies
Bloody Harvest
MetaNexus: Transhumanism and Posthumanism

Recommended eBooks
The Dada Cyborg (Biro)
Genomics (Cantor)
Transhumanism and Transcendence (Cole and Turner)
Flesh Machine (Critical Arts Ensemble)
Technophobia and Transhuman Technology (Dinello)
Human Cloning: From Science Fiction to Science Practice (Haran)
Simians, Cyborgs, and Women (Haraway)
Vampires and Cyborgs (Latham)
Machine Dreams (Mirowski)
Cross Cultural Issues in Bioethics (Roetz)
Cyborgs and Barbie Dolls (Toffoletti)

Students' Biotech Projects

Forthcoming...
Transhumanism/Posthumanism (PPT)
Designer Babies, Egg Harvesting, and "Eggsploitation" (PPT)
Neuro-pharmacology and Behavior Control (PPT)
Animal Human Hybrids / Chimeras (PPT)
Human cloning (PPT)
Genetic Engineering (PPT)
Human Embryo Stem Cells (PPT)
Selective Reduction Eugenics (PPT)