Bioethics Professor Linda MacDonald Glenn: Sentience Matters!

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Today I interviewed Prof. Linda MacDonald Glenn on Singularity 1 on 1.

Linda is an American bioethicist, healthcare educator, lecturer, consultant, and attorney-at-law. Her academic research encompasses the legal, ethical, and social impact of emerging technologies and “evolving notions of personhood”.

During our conversation with Prof. Glenn, we discuss a variety of topics such as the very personal and moving story behind her interest in bioethics;  women in technology; human rights versus sentience rights; the legal differences of being human vs being a “person”; the legal test (or lack thereof) for recognizing personhood; the problems of defining and measuring intelligence.

(As always you can listen to or download the audio file above or scroll down and watch the video interview in full. To show your support you can write a review on iTunes, make a direct donation, or become a patron on Patreon.

There is a delay between my own video and audio, which are out of sync, but Linda Glenn’s end is very good so you will not be annoyed by it for 90% of the time.)

Who is Linda MacDonald Glenn?

Linda MacDonald Glenn JD, LLM (Biomedical Ethics, McGill) is a healthcare ethics educator, counselor-at-law, futurist and international consultant. She holds a faculty appointment at the Alden March Bioethics Institute, Albany Medical Center, and is also a Fellow at the Institute for Emerging Technologies and a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation. Her other honors include an appointment as a Senior Fellow at the American Medical Association’s Institute for Ethics, and being named a Women’s Bioethics Scholar. Her research encompasses the legal, ethical, and social impact of emerging healthcare technologies, and evolving notions of legal personhood. She has advised governmental leaders and agencies, published numerous articles in professional journals and books, addressed public and professional groups internationally, and made many media appearances, including the History Channel, the Discovery Channel, and NPR. She is currently working on a book titled Bioethics for a New Earth: How Emerging Technologies Can Change Humankind.