#287 John Danaher: Automation and Utopia; The End of Work, Cyborgs, And Virtual Worlds
RECORDED ON NOVEMBER 19th, 2019.
Dr. John Danaher is a senior lecturer in the Law School at the National University of Ireland, Galway. He holds a BCL from University College Cork (2006); an LLM from Trinity College Dublin (2007); and a PhD from University College Cork (2011). He was lecturer in law at Keele University in the UK from 2011 until 2014. He joined NUI Galway in July 2014. Dr. Danaher’s research focuses on the ethical, legal and social implications of new technologies. He maintains a blog called Philosophical Disquisitions, and produces a podcast with the same title. He also writes for the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies, and is the author of the recent book, Automation and Utopia: Human Flourishing in a World without Work.
In this episode, we go through the major topics in Dr. Danaher’s book, Automation and Utopia. We first talk about human obsolescence, the present conditions of the labor market, and how to improve them through automation. We discuss technological unemployment and the Universal Basic Income. Then, we talk about how automation might interfere with domains of human life that could impede human flourishing. We also address the advantages and disadvantages of turning into cyborgs. Finally, we discuss what would be a virtual utopia, and game ethics.
Time Links:
Human obsolescence
Work ethics as a recent invention
The end of work, and a leisure society
Will there be massive technological unemployment?
Can people perform the new complementary tasks?
The unfavorable conditions of the labor market
People are unhappy with their occupations
Is Universal Basic Income a solution?
Can automation interfere with human flourishing?
Problems with delegating decisions to technology
Should we turn into cyborgs?
Life extension and immortality
The virtual utopia, and what does a “virtual world” mean
Game ethics
Preventing the worst consequences for people if they fail in the “game”
Final remarks on Automation and Utopia
Follow Dr. Danaher’s work!
Follow Dr. Danaher’s work:
Faculty page: http://bit.ly/2nb59Lc
ResearchGate profile: http://bit.ly/2LK7rdH
Philosophical Disquisitions podcast: http://bit.ly/2QyR7zf
Automation and Utopia: https://amzn.to/34emEdK
Twitter handle: @JohnDanaher