James Hughes on Citizen Cyborg: Interrogate and Engage the World

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Dr. James Hughes is not only the executive director of the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies (IEET) but also a well-known book author and transhumanist. I enjoyed having him on the show and will probably ask him to return.

During our conversation with Dr. Hughes, we cover a wide variety of topics such as what the IEET is and what it does; the story behind James’ interest in technology, policy, philosophy, and bio/ethics; why transhumanist atheists are often drawn to Buddhism; his first book Citizen Cyborg and his upcoming Cyborg Buddha; transhumanism and his definition thereof; whether optimism is rational; the impact of artificial intelligence on transhumanism; James’ take on the technological singularity and our chances of surviving it; the benefits of biology; moral enhancement and animal uplift.

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Who is James Hughes?

James Hughes, Ph. D., is the Executive Director of the techno-progressive thinktank Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies. He is a bioethicist and sociologist at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, where he teaches health policy and serves as Director of Institutional Research and Planning. He holds a doctorate in sociology from the University of Chicago. Dr. Hughes is the author of Citizen Cyborg: Why Democratic Societies Must Respond To The Redesigned Human Of The Future and is working on a second book tentatively titled Cyborg Buddha.