RSA: Humanity 2.0

Well, how will I be able to resist a debate featuring two people I've been reading now for a number of years? i.e. Steve Fuller and China Mieville. A meeting, and perhaps even a rapprochement, between sociology and science fiction (the longed-for possibility of which originally inspired me to create this blog). In strictest confidence, you can be sure I will be asking Steve for his impressions of China (sadly I guess I won't ever find out what China makes of Steve, beyond what he has to say in his talk).

Be sure to pencil October 6 into your diary, as you can listen to the event live.

6th Oct 2011; 19:00

This event is now fully booked but you can join the waiting list for any returns.

RSA Debate

How will we ascribe status to human life in a ‘post-human’ world? Should we take post-humanism seriously? If so, how do we define and value our humanity in the face of a future that will only otherwise confer advantage on the few? As we re-engineer the human body, and even human genome, are we attempting to realize dreams that hitherto have been largely pursued as social-engineering projects or are we doing something new?


From traders and dreamers to technogeeks and philosophers, whose ideologies run the gamut from collectivism to libertarianism, a large constituency is already engaged with our enhanced future. This constituency may radically reconfigure the global political space.


The RSA gathers a high-profile panel of speakers to explore the hidden agendas behind our values and attitudes toward the place of ‘the human’ in today’s societies, and debate what must now be a key issue for the 21st century.


Speakers: Professor Steve Fuller, Auguste Comte Chair in Social Epistemology, the Department of Sociology, the University of Warwick and author of 'Humanity 2:0'; Dr Rachel Armstrong, Senior TED Fellow and co-director, AVATAR (Advanced Virtual and Technological Architectural Research) in Architecture & Synthetic Biology, The School of Architecture & Construction, University of Greenwich; and China Miéville, author of several works of fiction and non-fiction.


Chair: Dr Andy Miah, chair, Ethics and Emerging Technologies in the Faculty of Business & Creative Industries, the University of the West of Scotland.

Suggested hashtag for Twitter users: #RSAhumanity