Contrasting Theoretical Perspectives on AI, Enhancement, and Transhumanism (Virtual Session)

Session Submission Type: Virtual Full Paper Panel

Session Description

In coming decades, advances in AI as well human technological enhancement will profoundly impact political and social organization and the very notion of humanity itself. Using a variety of theoretical tools and perspectives from political theory, including intellectual history, ethics, environmental theory, and Aristotelian and civic republican thought, the four papers evaluate these developments and their historical antecedents (Hunt) and present a broad range of perspectives on the degree to which they should be accommodated and regulated (Ross and Thiele), or resisted (Cannavò). A key aim of the panel is to spark a lively debate among the presenters on these issues.

Sub Unit

• Division 1: Political Thought and Philosophy

Individual Presentations

• Transhumanism and Domination: An Argument for Limits on Human Enhancement - Peter F. Cannavo, Hamilton College

• The Imagination of AI from Hobbes to Shelley - Eileen M. Hunt, University of Notre Dame

• Why Opaque AI Won’t Go Away: A Case for Ethical AI without Complete Transparency - Amber Ross, University of Florida

• Is Humanity an Endangered Species? - Leslie Paul Thiele, University of Florida

Chair

• Joshua Chad Gellers University of North Florida

Discussant

• Ashley Elizabeth Gorham Hamilton College