Thursday, April 16, 2009

Julian Savulescu lecture later today

Monash University is hosting Julian Savulescu when he gives a public lecture on human enhancement later today. Julian's PhD is from Monash, so there's a strong connection (Julian also has an essay in 50 Voices of Disbelief ). I have the new book on human enhancement that he edited with Nick Bostrom, but haven't yet managed to get a clear block of time to read it. Maybe I'll be able to have at least a look later today, as I'm gradually clearing tasks.

I'll report later on how the lecture went.

Edit: well, not all that much to report. It was good to catch up (very) briefly with Julian afterwards, and to see quite a few Monash people there. The lecture itself was quite low key, though well presented, as is the case with everything that Julian does. He concentrated on presenting the case that many traits, including psychological ones, are likely to have a genetic component, rather than dealing exhaustively with the case for genetic enhancement. The lecture was aimed at a general audience, so maybe he thought best to tone down some of the stronger philosophical claims.

The venue was magnificent; BMW Edge rocks. I'm told that Peter Singer will be speaking in the same venue when he's in town in early June. I must get along, if I can.

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