Theo Todman's Web Page - Paper Abstracts

Editors’ Abstract₁

1. The more closely one looks at the concept of death, the more evident it becomes that historical criteria are flawed. Although cryopreservation cannot yet be reversed, death has not occurred unless biochemistry becomes irreversibly damaged.
2. A crucial insight is that irreversibility depends on the level of technology. This realization is one reason transhumanist² discussions so frequently turn to philosophical issues of personal identity - the conditions under which an individual can be said to continue in existence, to survive. Another reason is that longer lives coupled with physiological, cognitive, and emotional enhancements mean that we will undergo unprecedented degrees of change over time.
3. How should we rethink our notions of personal identity and survival under these scenarios? Sociologist and bioethicist James Hughes surveys the most favored transhumanist³ views on this topic, including the "patternist" or "information-theoretic" theories, in "Transhumanism⁴ and Personal Identity."