Looks interesting - a symposium in France on enhancement technologies

Within the framework of the CNRS proj. named "EpistHOMME+", we are
pleased to host:

Enhancing Human Experience via Emerging Technologies -March 27-28, 2012

Ingenieurium & Laval Theatre, France

Young and old alike believe that the human experience could gain
something if better informed about up-coming technologies. Learning
about them at an early stage helps in making key decisions about one's
personal future. Although the approach is somewhat individual and
devoted to those concerned, collectively oriented health and
entertainment will gain from observing individual practices in the
matter. Government policy incorporating emergent technology progress
through monitoring will renew itself in a relevant way. However, in
the name of progress people are increasingly willing to accept risk;
the possible downfall of this movement is its ability to promote
taking risks. But then again, could we or would we want to stop it? If
we are to enhance the human experience, the pros and cons of each
situation must be considered. Modifying or augmenting humans surely
raises a certain number of issues. What are they? What aspect of life
should one proceed to enhance? Which sectors or issues should become
priority elements? Which academic disciplines are involved and why?
What limits technological change? Does one have an acceptance
threshold? If so, how would one express it? What are the long term
implications of enhancement? Establishing a typology of possible
applications and their contexts would be desirable for this symposium
on enhancing members of our society.

The following non-exhaustive list may be used to provoke thought on
this topic: Keywords & Topics:

Definitions of enhancement ▪ Robot companions for citizens ▪
Jungling multiple identities ▪ Advanced interfaces for increasing
social presence ▪ Augmented health ▪ Epistemology of tech.
innovation ▪ Care-giving robots ▪ Psychological analysis of
acceptance ▪ Augmented Well-being ▪ Ubiquitous internet or
computing ▪ Social roles in emerging tech. contexts ▪ Holistic,
pragmatic and systemic approaches to resolving well-being difficulties
▪ Augmented Context-Awareness ▪ Communication enabling and
enhancing tech. ▪ Incommunicability ▪ Human factors psychology and
needs assessment ▪ Mind/body problem ▪ New worlds and belief
revision ▪ Moral and ethical dimensions of enhancement ▪ Hybrid
engineering ▪ Progress and technological obsolescence ▪ Co-
constructed experiences ▪ Interventionism or Science policy issues
▪ The notions of Self or Identity in human experience ▪ Public
information points and communication devices ▪ Technological
Singularity success or failure ▪ Roles of otherhood in one's
experiences ▪ Cognitive enhancement ▪ Theoretical controversies ▪
Emergent intentional states ▪ The intersection of the Arts, design
and technology ▪ Transhumanistic stances ▪ Augmented emotion ▪
etc.

Chair: Colin T. SCHMIDT, Le Mans University & Arts et Metiers
ParisTech Lab, Laval France
Assistant to the Chair: Jayesh S. PILLAI : jayesh.spillai@gmail.com

Keynote Speakers:
AUBRY DE GREY. (Confirmed.) Biomedical Gerontologist SENS Foundation
(UK)
JAMES MOOR. (Confirmed.) Professor of Ethics and Philosophy, Dartmouth
College (USA)
KEVIN WARWICK. (Confirmed.) Professor of Cybernetics, Reading
University (UK)

Laval Virtual Gala Dinner, March 28, 20h (Exhibition Hall – Salle
Polyvalente)

Program Committee
Jean-Claude ANDRE. Scientific Advisor to the CNRS (Risk Assessment and
Nanotechnologies) & Institute of Engineering and Systems Sciences for
forecasting, Socially Responsible Research (FR)
Jean-Michel BESNIER. CNRS Research Director in Philosophy, Centre for
Applied Epistemology (CREA) Ecole Polytechnique & University of Paris
4 (FR)
Paul BOURGINE. CNRS Research Director in Complex Systems, Centre for
Applied Epistemology (CREA) Ecole Polytechnique Paris (FR)
Nicole D’ALMEIDA. Professor of Communication, CELSA University of
Paris 4 (FR)
Jérôme GOFFETTE, Philosophy of Science, University Lyon 1—Claude
Bernard & ENS, currently authoring "Human Enhancement - An
Interdisciplinary Inquiry" (Palgrave) (FR)
Aubry DE GREY. Biomedical Gerontologist and Chief Science Officer,
SENS Foundation & Editor-in-Chief of Rejuvenation Research, advisor to
Humanity+, Maximum Life, Alcor and the Singularity Institute for
Artificial Intelligence (USA, UK)
Edouard KLEINPETER. iscc-CNRS Scientific Officer, Specialist of
Utopias, Human Enhancement and Communication, Paris (FR)
Lorenzo MAGNANI. Professor and Director, Computational Philosophy Lab,
Pavia University & Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou (P.R.China, IT)
James MOOR. Professor of Ethics, Dartmouth College NH USA, Barwise
Prize 2006, Former Editor-in-chief of Minds and Machines, (USA)
Vincent MULLER. Professor of Philosophy, American College of
Thessaloniki & FHI University of Oxford (GR, UK)
Jacques PERRIAULT. Emeritus Professor of Social Informatics,
University Paris 10 (Nanterre-Défence), Senior advisor to the issc-
CNRS, Honorary President of the French Society for Information and
Communication Sciences -SFSIC- (FR)
Serge PROULX. Professor of Social Informatics, UQAM Montréal &
Télécom ParisTech (CA, FR)
Marc ROUX. President of the French Society for Transhumanism
(‘L'Association Française Transhumaniste : Technoprog)
Natasha VITA-MORE. University of Plymouth & Chair Humanity+ (UK)
Shunji YAMANAKA. Industrial Designer, President of Leading Edge Design
corp., Professor at the Faculty of Environment and Information
Studies, Keio University, (Awards: Good Design 1989; Germany’s iF
Product Design Awards 2001, 2005; Good Design Award 2004; Mainichi
Design Award, the Designer of the Year in Japan 2004; Good Design
Award Gold Prize 2006; Good Design Award Ecology Design Prize 2006) &
2009 Kokuyo Design Award Jury Chairman, Japan


DEADLINE to submit a paper: January 23rd, 2012 <<<<
Submission website: www.laval-virtual.org
- Submission deadline: 23 January 2012
- Notification to Authors: 7 February 2012
- Final Camera-Ready Submission: Until 29 February 2012
- The authors of the best publications will be invited to submit a
paper in the international journal IJODIR

Ingenieurium
4 rue de l’Ermitage
53000 Laval France
06 26 26 66 48
&
Le Théâtre de Laval,
34, rue de la Paix
53013 LAVAL FRANCE
Tél. : 02 43 49 19 55


A WORKSHOP SPONSORED BY ARTS ET METIERS PARISTECH and
ORGANISED IN COOPERATION WITH VIRTUAL REALITY INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE
2012
SUPPORTED BY THE FRENCH NATIONAL SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH CENTRE's
COMMUNICATION SCIENCES INSTITUTE, FRANCE
HTTP://WWW.ISCC.CNRS.FR

- - please circulate - - -


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C.T.A. SCHMIDT . D.Phil. Sorbonne (B.Sc., MA, M.Phil.)