bioengineering & the future of politics

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BIOENGINEERING AND THE FUTURE OF POLITICS

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BIOENGINEERINGAND THE FUTURE OF POLITICS

Current Political LandscapeCurrent political issues:

• Affordable Healthcare• Abortion• Immigration• Public Pension• School Testing (Common Core)• Transportation Funding• Cost of Water• Carbon Emissions

• Tax Policy• Deficit Spending• Religious Business Freedom• Middle East Foreign Policy• Stem Cell Research

Current Technological LandscapeTop Technologies of 2015 (non-exhaustive)

• In Vitro Meat• Powered Exoskeletons• Brain-Computer Interfaces• High-Speed Transportation• Genome Editing• Solar Power / Electrical Grid• Tricorder (Stark Trek – Medical Apps)• Bio-printing

• Organ-on-a-chip• Biometrics

• Augmented Reality• Virtual Reality• Cryptocurrency• Artificial Intelligence• E-Learning• Artificial Uterus• Prostheses• Cryonics• De-Extinction• Life Extension (Gene-Therapy)

• Nanomedicine• Space Commercialization• Autonomous Robotics• Swarm Robotics• Vertical Farming• Closed Ecological Systems

Evolving Political Relevance• Right (Republican) Left (Democrat)• Bioprogressive Bioconservative

• Personal & Economic Liberty• Technoprogressives – Access/Speed• Transhumanists – Speed /Access

• Neither• Bioconservative

• Economic Freedom (Military spending) modern technologies• Modern Technologies personal & economic freedom

• DARPA/Internet President Obama, LGBT Equality

Future Political LandscapeIssues:

• What defines citizenship?• What defines personhood?

• How far do civil liberties go?• “Yuck Factor” & Religious Freedom

• How do we handle technological risk?• Resignation, Regulation, or Relinquishment

• Can we enhance ourselves?• Universal, Legal, or Banned

• What is the role of parenthood?• Reproductive Rights, Procreative Liberty, & Beneficence

• How do we stop climate change?• Ban, Free Market Green, or TechnoGaian?

Issues:• How do we treat unemployment?

• Universal Basic Income, Protectionism, Benefits, or Luddite?

• Should we continue increasing individual sovereignty?• Should globalization should be stopped, should

we globally ban enhancement tech, should we continue economic globalization, or are we only sustainable through economic and political globalization?

For Certain:• Engineering disciplines can solve many of our national and global issues

• Examples: (non-exhaustive)• Bioengineering to solve and provide access to health and lifesaving or altering tech• Aerospace Engineering to solve overpopulation and resource scarcity• Civil Engineering to solve agriculture and water crises• Electrical Engineering to solve energy and transportation crises• Mechanical Engineering to provide support for development of all these technologies• Complexity Science to support migration as solution to aging workforce• Human Factors to make all technologies more accessible, processes efficient, and recreate Education• Systems Engineering to support system efficiency and reorganize politics• Computer/Software Engineering to increase automation, support development of all this tech

• But, this must likewise be supported by the political decisions to allow this to happen

Future Technological Landscape:

Hale, K.S., Stanney, K.M., Winslow, B. (2013). HSI emerging concepts: Developing an r&d agenda through 2050

Future Technological Landscape:

Hale, K.S., Stanney, K.M., Winslow, B. (2013). HSI emerging concepts: Developing an r&d agenda through 2050

Closing Words• Technological development will have a huge impact on the political landscape

• Although the struggle of increasing political & economic freedom will continue• Current political barriers are only superficial

• Being a republican or democrat in the American political system will be obsolete in the future• So do what you can to evolve your own beliefs – issues are more complex than the media

portrays, and we understand this by looking at future trends, and developments in tech• Whether a techno-progressive

or a transhumanist… Just don’t be a Luddite!