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.
A piece for the ABC on the corrupting influence of money on the debate about human enhancement tech.
A piece with Newsroom on how Aotearoa's universities could contribute to healing of our sharp disagreements about Covid vaccines.
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?
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.
A piece for the ABC that calls out the suborning of the philosophy of human enhancement by tech and money.
A piece on the ABC that explores a conjecture about increasing levels of time-poverty and the rise of conspiracy thinking.
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.
Achieving herd immunity against COVID-19 requires more than vaccines. It requires cognitive herd immunity.
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.
A follow up to this piece on the vice of philosophical shit-stirring. And a bit of a mea culpa for past shit-stirring.
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.
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.
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