About Me
I am Professor of Ethics at the University of Waikato, New Zealand.
I've been busy over the past almost thirty years exploring the ethical implications of technological change, and the ways in which genetic and cybernetic technologies may alter us. Recently I've been very busy writing about the coronavirus pandemic.
Latest
Should Humanities Professors Be Automated?
How automation could turn doctors into Uber drivers — and how to stop it
How automation could turn doctors into Uber drivers — and how to stop it
A piece for Project Syndicate on how recent advances in AI suggest an urgent need to rethink how humanities academics write. It's too easy to automate!
How automation could turn doctors into Uber drivers — and how to stop it
How automation could turn doctors into Uber drivers — and how to stop it
How automation could turn doctors into Uber drivers — and how to stop it
A piece with the ABC on how automation could turn doctors - and many others - into poorly paid digital adjunct workers.
It’s a problem when philosophers of human enhancement follow the money
How automation could turn doctors into Uber drivers — and how to stop it
It’s a problem when philosophers of human enhancement follow the money
A piece for the ABC on the corrupting influence of money on the debate about human enhancement tech.
‘Skimpflation’ and a future without human workers
How exploiting confusion about digital tech became an enormously profitable business strategy — and what can be done to stop it
It’s a problem when philosophers of human enhancement follow the money
A piece with Newsroom on the phenomenon of skimpflation as a sign of a work environment increasingly hostile to human workers. Does it presage a future in which digital machines delete humans from the workforce?
How exploiting confusion about digital tech became an enormously profitable business strategy — and what can be done to stop it
How exploiting confusion about digital tech became an enormously profitable business strategy — and what can be done to stop it
How exploiting confusion about digital tech became an enormously profitable business strategy — and what can be done to stop it
A piece for the ABC that recounts an embarrassing and expensive error with digital tech and uses it to highlight a very profitable digital tech business model that exploits human cognitive frailty.
How tech co-opted the philosophical debate about human enhancement
How exploiting confusion about digital tech became an enormously profitable business strategy — and what can be done to stop it
How exploiting confusion about digital tech became an enormously profitable business strategy — and what can be done to stop it
A piece for the ABC that calls out the suborning of the philosophy of human enhancement by tech and money.
COVID-19 reminds us why we should be wary of politicians bright-siding scientific advice
COVID-19 reminds us why we should be wary of politicians bright-siding scientific advice
COVID-19 reminds us why we should be wary of politicians bright-siding scientific advice
A piece with the ABC that calls out the politicians' habit of always trying to look on the bright side of advice about the pandemic. Boris Johnson is the worst offender. Australia can put its recent disappointments about Omicron down do political bright-siding of scientific advice.
We need more philosophy to create cognitive herd immunity
COVID-19 reminds us why we should be wary of politicians bright-siding scientific advice
COVID-19 reminds us why we should be wary of politicians bright-siding scientific advice
Achieving herd immunity against COVID-19 requires more than vaccines. It requires cognitive herd immunity.
Finding Purpose in the Humanities
COVID-19 reminds us why we should be wary of politicians bright-siding scientific advice
Confessions of a philosophical shit-stirrer
A piece on Project Syndicate. With policymakers intent on privileging technical “job-ready” majors, it is becoming more difficult for liberal arts departments to attract students. But these fields of study are as important as ever, and with a few modest reforms, they should be an easy sell for today’s “purpose-driven” young people.
Confessions of a philosophical shit-stirrer
Confessions of a philosophical shit-stirrer
Confessions of a philosophical shit-stirrer
A follow up to this piece on the vice of philosophical shit-stirring. And a bit of a mea culpa for past shit-stirring.
The Inflection Pointillists
Confessions of a philosophical shit-stirrer
The Inflection Pointillists
A piece in the Los Angeles Review of Books written with Stuart Whatley that challenges popular beliefs about exponential improvement as the solution to pretty much everything.
The Dream Economy
Confessions of a philosophical shit-stirrer
The Inflection Pointillists
A piece in the Los Angeles Review of Books written with Stuart Whatley that deflates some of the hype that turns tech visionaries into multibillionaires.