James J. Hughes (born May 27, 1961) is an American sociologist and bioethicist. He is the Executive Director of the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies and teaches

health policy Health policy can be defined as the "decisions, plans, and actions that are undertaken to achieve specific healthcare goals within a society".World Health Organization''Health Policy'' accessed 22 March 2011(Web archive)/ref> According to the ...

Trinity College Trinity College may refer to: Australia * Trinity Anglican College, an Anglican coeducational primary and secondary school in , New South Wales * Trinity Catholic College, Auburn, a coeducational school in the inner-western suburbs of Sydney, New ...

in Hartford, Connecticut in the United States. He is the author of ''Citizen Cyborg: Why Democratic Societies Must Respond to the Redesigned Human of the Future'' and is currently writing a book about

moral bioenhancement Moral enhancement (abbreviated ME), also called moral bioenhancement (abbreviated MBE), is the use of biomedical technology to morally improve individuals. MBE is a growing topic in neuroethics, a field developing the ethics of neuroscience as wel ...

tentatively titled ''Cyborg Buddha: Using Neurotechnology to Become Better People''.

Biography

Hughes holds a doctorate in sociology from the University of Chicago, where he served as the assistant director of research for the

MacLean Center for Clinical Medical Ethics The MacLean Center for Clinical Medical Ethics, founded in 1981, is a non-profit clinical medical ethics research institute based in the United States. Founded by its director, Mark Siegler, the MacLean Center for Clinical Medical Ethics aims to ...

. Before graduate school he was temporarily ordained as a Buddhist monk in 1984 while working as a volunteer in

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

for the development organization Sarvodaya from 1983 to 1985. Hughes served as executive director of the World Transhumanist Association from 2004 to 2006 and currently serves as executive director of the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies, which he founded with

Nick Bostrom Nick Bostrom ( ; sv, Niklas Boström ; born 10 March 1973) is a Swedish-born philosopher at the University of Oxford known for his work on existential risk, the anthropic principle, human enhancement ethics, superintelligence risks, and the rev ...

. He also produces the syndicated weekly public affairs radio talk show program ''Changesurfer Radio'' and contributed to the ''Cyborg Democracy'' blog. Hughes' book ''

Citizen Cyborg ''Citizen Cyborg: Why Democratic Societies Must Respond to the Redesigned Human of the Future'' is a 2004 non-fiction book by bioethicist and sociologist James Hughes, which articulates democratic transhumanism as a socio-political ideology and ...

: Why Democratic Societies Must Respond to the Redesigned Human of the Future'' was published by Westview Press in November 2004. Rejecting

bioconservatism Bioconservatism (a portmanteau of the words ''biology'' and ''conservatism''), to Deakin University Lecturer in Health Ethics and Professionalism Tamara Kayali Browne and University of Oxford Senior Research Fellow Steve Clarke, is "a term that is ...

and

libertarian transhumanism Transhumanist politics constitutes a group of political ideologies that generally express the belief in improving human individuals through science and technology. History The term "transhumanism" with its present meaning was popularised by Ju ...

, Hughes argues for

democratic transhumanism Transhumanist politics constitutes a group of political ideologies that generally express the belief in improving human individuals through science and technology. History The term "transhumanism" with its present meaning was popularised by Ju ...

, a radical form of techno-progressivism that asserts that the best possible "

posthuman future Posthuman or post-human is a concept originating in the fields of science fiction, futurology, contemporary art, and philosophy that means a person or entity that exists in a state beyond being human. The concept aims at addressing a variety of ...

" is achievable only by ensuring that

human enhancement technologies Human enhancement (HE) can be described as the natural, artificial, or technological alteration of the human body in order to enhance physical or mental capabilities. Technologies Existing technologies Three forms of human enhancement curren ...

are safe, made available to everyone, and respect the right of individuals to control their own bodies. Hughes sits on the academic advisory council of the

Christian Transhumanist Association Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρισ ...

Works

Embracing Change with All Four Arms: A Post-Humanist Defense of Genetic Engineering
. ''Eubios Journal of Asian and International Bioethics'' 6(4), 94-101 *Hughes, James (2002).

. 2001 Annual Meeting of the Society for Social Studies of Science *Hughes, James (2002).

Transhumanity
blog * Hughes, James (2002–2004)
Changesurfing
Archived

Betterhumans Humanity+ (also Humanity Plus; formerly the World Transhumanist Association) is a non-profit international educational organization that advocates the ethical use of technologies and evidence-based science to improve the human condition. This cond ...

column * Hughes, James (2004). Book: ''

: Why Democratic Societies Must Respond to the Redesigned Human of the Future''. Westview Press. * A collection of interviews and presentations a
Science, Technology & the Future
* LaGrandeur, Kevin, Hughes, James J. (Eds.) (2017). Surviving the Machine Age: Intelligent Technology and the Transformation of Human Work. * Up and coming book: ''Cyborg Buddha: Using Neurotechnology to Become Better People.''

References

External links

Changesurfer Consulting
a web portal to James Hughes' projects
Changesurfer Radio
"a weekly, syndicated public affairs radio show transmitting a sexy, high-tech vision of a radically democratic future"
Institute of Ethics and Emerging Technologies: James Hughes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hughes, James American Buddhists American socialists American sociologists Bioethicists Futurologists 1961 births Living people Trinity College (Connecticut) faculty University of Chicago alumni American transhumanists

Biography

Works

See also

References

External links