Wild with Sarah Wilson

ELISE BOHAN: Ah shit, transhumanism….


Listen Later

What if we could bioengineer our bodies to live forever, would we and should we? What if we could avoid all the awkward bits of sex and just neatly copulate with a robot? And what if we never had to go through the bother and pain of pregnancy and could instead use artificial external wombs? Would we? And should we?


Transhumanists say these are moot questions because the superhuman or post-human train has well and truly left the station. We’re only decades from these altered, souped up realities. Oxford transhumanist scholar Elise Bohan and I roll our sleeves up to discuss the litany of moral questions that arise from this, like why the hell were we not consulted on this before the train took off? Has anyone stopped to ask if this is what humanity wants or can handle morally? We chat about the singularity, the particularly worrying effects on men and dating and Elise posits a timeframe for AI intelligence taking over from human smarts (!). If ever there was a conversation in history to get us talking about what matters and makes for a flourishing existence, this is it. Take a deep breath…


Grab Elise’s book, Future Superhuman: Our Transhuman Lives in a Make-or-Break Century 

I refer to the book Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro

And we reference previous podcast chats with William Macaskill

.....

If you need to know a bit more about me… head to my "about" page. 

Subscribe to my Substack newsletter for more such conversation. 

Get your copy of my book, This One Wild and Precious Life 

Let’s connect on Instagram! It’s where I interact the most. 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

Wild with Sarah WilsonBy Sarah Wilson

  • 4.8
  • 4.8
  • 4.8
  • 4.8
  • 4.8

4.8

71 ratings


More shows like Wild with Sarah Wilson

View all
Big Ideas by ABC Australia

Big Ideas

97 Listeners

Conversations by ABC Australia

Conversations

904 Listeners

All In The Mind by ABC Australia

All In The Mind

764 Listeners

Life Matters - Full program podcast by ABC Australia

Life Matters - Full program podcast

70 Listeners

Chat 10 Looks 3 by Chat 10 Looks 3

Chat 10 Looks 3

237 Listeners

Ladies, We Need To Talk by ABC Australia

Ladies, We Need To Talk

327 Listeners

Emergence Magazine Podcast by Emergence Magazine

Emergence Magazine Podcast

507 Listeners

7am by Solstice Media

7am

127 Listeners

Parental As Anything by ABC Australia

Parental As Anything

45 Listeners

The Imperfects by Hugh van Cuylenburg, Ryan Shelton & Josh van Cuylenburg

The Imperfects

397 Listeners

Accidental Gods by Accidental Gods

Accidental Gods

152 Listeners

Planet: Critical by Rachel Donald

Planet: Critical

91 Listeners

Not Stupid by ABC Australia

Not Stupid

70 Listeners

The Great Simplification with Nate Hagens by Nate Hagens

The Great Simplification with Nate Hagens

446 Listeners

We Used to be Journos by Ette Media

We Used to be Journos

23 Listeners