Nicholas Agar

Nicholas AgarNicholas AgarNicholas Agar
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    • Home
    • Books
    • Opinion Pieces
      • COVID-19 in 2022
      • COVID-19 in 2021
      • COVID-19 in 2020
      • Future of Work
      • Future of the Humanities
      • Technological Change
      • Issues of the Day

Nicholas Agar

Nicholas AgarNicholas AgarNicholas Agar
  • Home
  • Books
  • Opinion Pieces
    • COVID-19 in 2022
    • COVID-19 in 2021
    • COVID-19 in 2020
    • Future of Work
    • Future of the Humanities
    • Technological Change
    • Issues of the Day

About Me

I am Professor of Philosophy 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

It’s a problem when philosophers of human enhancement follow the money

It’s a problem when philosophers of human enhancement follow the money

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.

Link to article

Time to teach pandemic preparedness

It’s a problem when philosophers of human enhancement follow the money

It’s a problem when philosophers of human enhancement follow the money

A piece with Newsroom on how Aotearoa's universities could contribute to healing of our sharp disagreements about Covid vaccines.

Link to article

‘Skimpflation’ and a future without human workers

It’s a problem when philosophers of human enhancement follow the money

How exploiting confusion about digital tech became an enormously profitable business strategy — and what can be done to stop it

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?

Link to article

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. 

Link to article

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

Too much information, too little time: Why conspiracy theories appeal to the time-poor

A piece for the ABC that calls out the suborning of the philosophy of human enhancement by tech and money. 

Link to article

Too much information, too little time: Why conspiracy theories appeal to the time-poor

How exploiting confusion about digital tech became an enormously profitable business strategy — and what can be done to stop it

Too much information, too little time: Why conspiracy theories appeal to the time-poor

A piece on the ABC that explores a conjecture about increasing levels of time-poverty and the rise of conspiracy thinking.

Link to article

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.

Link to article

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.

Link to article

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.

Link to article

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.

Link to article

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.

Link to article

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.

Link to article
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Books

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Opinion Pieces

Contact Me

nagar@waikato.ac.nz

Copyright © 2022 Nicholas Agar - All Rights Reserved.

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