|
A
peer-reviewed electronic journal published by the Institute for
Ethics and ISSN
1541-0099 22(1)
–November 2011 |
Editorial: Of
Minds and Machines
Russell Blackford
University of Newcastle, NSW; Editor-in-Chief, Journal of Evolution and Technology
Journal of Evolution and Technology - Vol. 22 Issue 1 – November 2011 – pp. i-ii.
This special issue of JET deals with questions relating to our radically enhanced future selves
or our possible “mind children” – conscious beings that we might bring about
through the development of advanced computers and robots. Our mind children might
exceed human levels of cognition, and avoid many human limitations and
vulnerabilities.
In a call for papers earlier this year, the
editors asked how far we ought to go with processes that might ultimately
convert humans to some sort of post-biological form or replace us with
post-biological beings. Are these coherent
ideas at all? If so, is it likely, or plausible, that we’ll one day be able to do such things? Even if we can, is that
desirable? More generally, how far can all these processes go, and how far
should we pursue them?
To offer a more personal and pointed question, would
you “upload” your personality into some kind of advanced computer or robot if
the technology became available? Would you do so even if the process required
the destruction of your original organic brain?
We are not the first to ask such questions. A large
body of relevant literature has built up in recent decades, some of it
discussing these and similar questions purely as philosophical thought
experiments (e.g., to clarify ideas of personal identity and individual
survival), but some of it at the level of practical recommendations for a
posthuman future. Despite the intensity and quality of the ongoing debate and
the eminence of many of the contributors, much work remains to be done to sort it
all out and advance the discussion. We have gathered a range of viewpoints, and
I predict that some of these pieces will soon be regarded as classics. They may
not be the last word – how
could they be when they do not all agree with each other? – but
they advance our understanding of what is at stake.
I have co-edited this issue with a fine guest
editor, Linda MacDonald Glenn, a distinguished bioethicist, educator, and
practicing lawyer who has previously published in the
journal and brings unique expertise to it. My thanks go to her for all her work
as we put the issue together, and particularly for attracting such an
impressive field of submissions. She will also provide a detailed afterword to
reflect on the issue’s contents and the difficult ideas that the papers grapple
with. My thanks, also, to James Hughes and Mark Walker for
their assistance throughout the project.
It remains to thank all our authors. They have enabled
us to put together an especially strong special issue of JET.
In accordance with our practice, articles will be
published online as and when they are ready, rather than when the whole issue
is fully edited. In this case, however, the editorial process is largely
complete (as I write these words in November 2011), and I expect JET 22(1) to take its final form within
a few weeks. Stay with us as the special issue unfolds.