MUSTS Colloquium: Perspectives from the Philosophy of Technology: Phenomenological, Ethical and Aesthetic Approaches to Enhancement, Automation, Bioart and Biohacking
Speakers: Darian Meacham and Nora S. Vaage
When: Wednesday 2 November, 15.30-17.00
Where: Attic, Soiron building, Grote Gracht 80-82
During our colloquium of 2 November, our new colleagues in the Philosophy Department, Darian Meacham and Nora S. Vaage, will outline the philosophical perspectives and approaches that they take in their research. Darian Meacham will talk about his phenomenological approach to studying enhancement and automation, while Nora Vaage will discuss her research on how artists, hackers and other laypeople engage materially and conceptually with biotechnologies.
Biographies:
Darian Meacham is, since 15 October, Assistant Professor of Practical Philosophy in the Philosophy Department at UM. His background is in Phenomenological and Political Philosophy and he has a strong interest in Philosophy of Biology and Philosophy of Technology. Darian is also the director for RRI at BrisSynBio, a UK Research Council Funded Centre for Synthetic Biology based at the University of Bristol. He is particularly interested in how emerging technologies, specifically human enhancement technologies, robotics, and biotechnology impact interpersonal, social and political relations.
Nora S. Vaage recently joined the Philosophy department at UM as an assistant professor in philosophy of art and culture. Her background is in aesthetics, art history, and theory of science, and for the last few years she has identified as an interdisciplinary researcher, working at the Centre for the Study of the Sciences and the Humanities at the University of Bergen, Norway. Her PhD dissertation, Amplifying Ambiguities: Art on the Fringes of Biotechnology, focused on the ethical, epistemological and societal aspects of bioart, juxtaposing this to biohacking and other non-academic approaches to wet biotechnologies. For the last half year she also worked as a coordinator of the RRI (responsible research and innovation) component at the Centre for Digital Life Norway, a flagship project from the Norwegian Research Council aiming to bring different sectors of biotechnology together. Nora has lectured in a number of subjects including art theory, visual rhetoric, theory of science and ethics.
