Neuroscience and the Future of Ethics
Channel: New America
Date: 06/10/2014

It’s 2014 and we have no flying cars, no Mars colonies, no needle-less injections, and yet plenty of smartphone dating apps. Is our science fiction to blame if we find today’s science and technology less than dazzling? Inspired by Neal Stephenson’s 2011 article “Innovation Starvation,” in which he argues that science fiction is failing to supply our scientists and engineers with inspiration, and the new anthology Hieroglyph: Stories and Visions for a Better Future, this event will explore a more ambitious narrative about what’s coming. From the tales we tell about robots and drones, to the narratives on the cutting edge of neuroscience, to society’s view of its most intractable problems, we need to begin telling a new set of stories about ourselves and the future.

Join the conversation online using #abetterfuture and by following @FutureTenseNow.

With:
Elizabeth Bear
Author, “Covenant,” Hieroglyph: Stories and Visions for a Better Future

Jonathan D. Moreno
David and Lyn Silfen University Professor of Ethics, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania

Kathleen Ann Goonan Author, “Girl in Wave: Wave in Girl,” Hieroglyph: Stories and Visions for a Better Future

Moderator:
Jamelle Bouie
Staff writer, Slate

http://www.newamerica.org/future-tense/can-we-imagine-our-way-to-a-better-future/