Memo6

Thomas Solley STSH 4980-01 Senior Thesis Costelloe-Kuehn 9/6/2014

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 * 1) include memo5 questions.h


 * 1) include memo6 questions from memo5.h


 * 1) include memo6.h


 * 1) include memo6 RD2.h

Format:
 * 1) Social Question 1
 * 2) Overarching empirical question1
 * 3) Overarching empirical question2
 * 4) Social Question 2
 * 5) Overarching empirical question 1
 * 1) Overarching empirical question 1

__ Memo6 -- Hierarchy of Research Questions __ **Social Theory Questions;**
 * 1) How does technological momentum inspire transhumanist work?
 * 2) What links are there?
 * 3) How have "anti progress" movements (anti-vaccine, anti-gun, anti- global-warming, etc.) affected scientific progress?
 * 4) How does religion factor into transhumanism? (Or technology)
 * 5) Does religious pressure exist (even in today's world) to "upgrade"? Cults, religious groups that worship technology? (Currently only in sci-fi?)
 * 6) What are the ethical concerns surrounding transhumanism? Do religions see advancing technologies as harmful?
 * 7) Does access to greater technology increase apathy?
 * 8) If we lived in a world of cybernetics, who is in control? Corporations? The individual? The government?
 * 9) If augs become common, what happens to the rights of workers? Can companies force their employees to become augged?
 * 10) Do augmentations create an unfair advantage in the workplace?
 * 11) How have predictions for the future changed over the years?
 * 12) What would it take to create a divided world, as seen in DXHR? The "augged" vs "normals"?
 * 13) Have we become dependant on technology, or do we still assert our dominance through it?
 * 14) Could the government really "hack" into prosthetics to turn people "off"?
 * 15) Who gets to decide if the rapid advancement of technology -- in biology, breeding, terraforming, macroscience and materials science -- is good or bad? Ambitious or arrogant? Wisdom or greed? Who chooses?
 * 16) Would corporate politics supercede the law? How would mega-corporations be policed? Who watches the watchers?
 * 17) How does modern society view transhumanism? (Or the Singularity)
 * 18) Does modern culture today see prosthetics as tools of war or boons to the disabled?
 * 19) Is transhumanism ultimately good for our society?
 * 20) Is technology the ultimate expression of the inner self?
 * 21) What technological "utopias" are there? Who has created them? What sort of "utopia" or future for the world do the masses see?
 * 22) Comparing the world of today with the world of video games, how far are we from "Utopia"?
 * 23) What "darker" aspects of the future have been predicted?
 * 24) Who determines what is the "most efficient" use of resources in the debate of organic vs. synthetic soldiers?
 * 25) Does use of "not fully organic"/"regular" soldiers have a "greater impact" on social psyche than use of cyborgs or androids?
 * 26) Does use of augmented soldiers justify conflict? Do robots instead? Drones? Would we see a similar "lack of humanity" towards fighting as happened in the Vietnam War?
 * 27) What arguments lie on both sides surrounding this conflict?
 * 28) How does one define if something organic has "surpassed evolution"?
 * 29) Does technology inherently allow for "equality"? Is "natural selection" relevant anymore, in a society that *claims* to look out for everyone?
 * 30) Are cyborgs the next stage of evolution?
 * 31) Over the course of millennia organic life has adapted organically (e.g. cells) to our environments -- Darwin's theory of Natural Selection -- but now, technology appears to make it possible to overcome this, where birth "defects" and injuries are no longer damning. Should there be a new "law of evolution"?
 * 32) How does one decide what makes a new technology a "wave of the future"[bright future, leader, savior] or a "shadow of corruption" [demented, corrupt, twisted, unethical, dark, dangerous]?
 * 33) Who chooses what constitutes a "defect" anymore? When humans can manipulate organics at the DNA and cellular level, what can we say is a "defect" or "mutation," and not an "adaptation by nature" or "gift"?
 * 34) Are our pre- homo sapiens habits no longer needed (herd instinct), and if so -- what is? For the current "stage" [are we even homo sapiens anymore?], or the next?
 * 35) Have we surpassed "evolution"?
 * 36) How does transhumanism undercut "natural selection"? (or bio-evolution)
 * 37) In an age of open-source information, who determines "intellectual property"?
 * 38) Who enforces it?
 * 39) What will it take for new "inventions" to be considered "useful"? Will small "upgrades" be enough?
 * 40) What will the next big "interface changer" be?
 * 41) What are the requirements to "own property"? What kinds of property might that be?
 * 42) Who has access to, and who controls information?
 * 43) How do modern definitions of "humanity" compare to transhumanist endeavors?
 * 44) What is "human" in an augmented world? What defines "humanity"?
 * 45) What is "inhuman" in a world where all information is shared? How does one characterize the "loss" of one's humanity?
 * 46) Does human augmentation inherently "dehumanize" the recipients? What is the line between man and machine?

--> I felt there should be more than this, so this list may expand past 6...
 * NOTE**


 * Interview Questions;**
 * 1) Why does the world need transhumanism? Why seek augmentation? What systems in your life have created this "drive"?
 * 2) How do cyborg soldiers compare to "organics" in war?
 * 3) What is the line between man and machine?