Brian Patrick Green – The Ethics of Life Extension
Episode 28:
Brian Patrick Green is the Director of Technology Ethics at the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics. Brian’s work on ethics is extensive, covering transhumanism, artificial intelligence, space exploration, corporate ethics, and religion. He has published several articles and resources on ethics and also authored several books including Space Ethics (2021) and Religious Transhumanism and Its Critics (2022).
In this episode, we ask Brian to share his journey into the world of ethics and the issues that face us today with the regulation of rapidly developing technologies like artificial intelligence. We also delve into the ethics of life extension therapies. How much of a duty do nations have to their citizen’s health? To what extent can additional life be covered and how does this change depending on the form of life extension? What is our responsibility to life when it comes to other species both on Earth and on other planets? We then cover questions of identity and what it means to be human. What about us can or should change? What are the biggest influences on human nature? Finally, we ask about Roman Catholic perspectives on additional life. We may have gone twice as long as the average episode but only for good reason!
Mentioned Resources and Links:
Religious Transhumanism and Its Critics
Brian’s Markkula Center Biography
Journal of Moral Theology Special Issue on AI
Ethics in the Age of Disruptive Technology: An Operational Roadmap