Tag / Religion

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  • 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, questions of identity/what it means to be human, and Roman Catholic perspectives on additional life. We may have gone twice as long as the average episode but only for good reason!

    July 6, 2023
    Interviews

  • Theodora Girgis – Exploring Space and Life Extension

    Episode 24:

    Theodora Girgis is an Aerospace Engineering Student at the University of Toronto. As one might guess, Theodora is passionate about all things space with experience in astrophysics research at her university and an internship with the Canadian Space Agency. She is also one of the hosts of The Sound of Space, a podcast on space created by the University of Toronto Aerospace Team.

    In this episode, Theodora discusses the limitations of space travel, the implications of extended life in space, how life extension might be perceived by peers in her program, whether radically extending lives conflicts with her faith, and much more.

    May 22, 2022
    Interviews

  • Jeremy Cohen – Death, Religion, and Technology

    Episode 23:

    Jeremy Cohen, Co-Founder of TalkDeath and an Assistant Professor at McMaster in the department of Religious Studies focuses on new religious movements seeking radical longevity and immortality, alongside the historical and cultural framework of changing North American relationships to technology and death.

    Jeremy describes death across the scopes of religion, life extension, and what exactly a good death is. The conversation dives deep into life extension and immortality in the realms of religion, potential changes to religions with the advent of extended life, transhumanism and our personal opinions on cryonics and much more!

    April 28, 2022
    Interviews

  • Aisha Musa – Islam and Immortality

    Episode 21:

    Aisha Musa holds a doctorate of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations from Harvard University with a specialization in Arabic and Islamic Studies. In the context of life extension, she authored the chapter, A Thousand Years, Less Fifty: Toward a Quranic View of Extreme Longevity, in the book, Religion and the Implications of Radical Life Extension.

    In this episode, Aisha discusses interpretations of extreme life extension in the Quran, the compatibility between free will and destined death, what Islam teaches about the afterlife, and what Muslims may think of undergoing life-extending therapies.

    April 6, 2022
    Interviews

  • Tarris Rosell – Center for Practical Bioethics

    Episode 17:

    Tarris Rosell is the Rosemary Flanigan Chair at the Center for Practical Bioethics and faculty at the Central Baptist Theological Seminary. With extensive experience providing bioethics education and consultation at Kansas City University and the University of Kansas Medical Center, Tarris provides some excellent perspectives on the things that must be considered when discussing immortality.

    In this episode, Tarris explains how we ought to try and provide the same quality of healthcare to everyone, no matter their personal decisions in life. He also shares why the rejection of life extension is not the same as refusing life by comparing it to cases where people have opted to reject certain technologies and therapies. Finally, Tarris also gives some thought as to what Protestant Christians might think of life extension.

    February 21, 2022
    Interviews

  • Calvin Mercer – Religious Outlooks on Transhumanism and Enhancement

    Episode 10:

    Calvin Mercer is a religious studies professor who has written numerous books and articles over the last decade on the implications of transhumanism and human enhancement, and how they pertain to religious affairs.

    In this episode, we ask Calvin about the way religion will change and respond to developing technologies and how we should evaluate them. We also learn about a field called developmental psychology and discuss its relation to common rites of passage.

    We are also happy to share Calvin’s latest book Religion and the Technological Future: An Introduction to Biohacking, Artificial Intelligence, and Transhumanism which was published in 2021 alongside co-author Tracy Trothen.

    November 25, 2021
    Interviews

  • Livia Kohn – Daoism and Immortality

    Episode 7:

    On today’s episode we interviewed Livia Kohn, a Professor of East Asian Studies and Religion at Boston University. Livia has been studying Daoism since the 1970s and is today, one of the leading experts of the religion.

    Listen now to learn about Daoism, Daoists practises & techniques to live longer, the history of Daoism, and what Daoists think of life extension and immortality.

    September 23, 2021
    Interviews