The Synapse and the Soul

Posted: Monday, July 14, 2008
In his latest book, eminent neuroscientist Michael Gazzaniga argues that science can explain "what makes us unique." But what should we do with the knowledge we receive from cutting-edge brain research -- how ought we to act? Gazzaniga offers no insights into what neuroscience means for how we live, except to offer up some unattractive visions of a future age of brain implants and mind-machine interfaces.  [Full Story]

Redeeming NASA
How the president saved the space program
Posted: Monday, February 4, 2008
Five years ago this month, the space shuttle Columbia was lost over Texas. Seven astronauts -- six Americans and one Israeli -- died as Columbia broke to pieces in the sky and fell aflame to earth. It was a terrible moment that could have marked the end of America's manned space program -- but the Bush administration offered a new vision for NASA that has set the troubled space agency aright and given it a new purpose.  [Full Story]

The March of the Machines

Posted: Thursday, June 7, 2007
In his new book, A Culture of Improvement, historian Robert Friedel surveys the entire past millennium of technological advancement. It's an ambitious project, seeking to explain how the West moved from horsepower to jet engines, from Gothic vaults to skyscrapers, from Gutenberg to Google.  [Full Story]

Nanoethics as a Discipline?

Posted: Tuesday, May 1, 2007
Growing ranks of academics, analysts, and advocacy groups are focusing their attentions on the social and ethical implications of nanoscale science and technology. But what exactly is there for “nanoethics” to study? Adam Keiper considers the contrasts with the emergence of bioethics four decades ago, and casts a skeptical eye at the proliferation of professional nanotechnology criticism.  [Full Story]

The New Atlantis, Winter 2006
With articles on man and machine, scientific corruption, guerrilla media, and much more...
Posted: Monday, February 20, 2006
The latest issue of The New Atlantis includes major essays on Man, Mind and Machines and the challenge to define "human"; a search for the connection between domestic tranquility and our domestic technology; how the blogger "Davids" are slaying the mainstream media "Goliath"; the scientific corruption at the heart of the Korean stem cell scandal and much more.  [Full Story]

The Age of Neuroelectronics

Posted: Monday, January 30, 2006
The potential merging of mind and machine thrills, frightens, and intrigues us. For decades, experiments at the border between brains and electronics have led to sensationalistic media coverage, vivid science fiction portrayals, and dreams of cyborgs and bionic men. But recently, this area of science has seen remarkable advances—from robotic limbs controlled directly by brain activity, to brain implants that alter the mood of the depressed, to rats steered by remote control. Adam Keiper explores the peculiar history and present directions of this research, and considers the challenges of staying human in the age of neuroelectronics.  [Full Story]

The New Atlantis, Fall 2005
With articles on modern medicine, missile defense, Einstein's Annus Mirabilis, and much more...
Posted: Thursday, November 17, 2005
The latest issue of The New Atlantis includes major essays on the future of modern medicine, the moral education of our doctors, buggy software and missle defense, our perception of reality in the age of Photoshop, Einstein's Annus Mirabilis, and much more. Visit www.TheNewAtlantis.com today!  [Full Story]

A Vast Conspiracy?

Posted: Friday, September 30, 2005
Chris Mooney's screed accuses the Republican Party of distorting scientific facts, gagging scientists, suppressing research, packing scientific advisory committees with ideologues, and in various other ways abusing and politicizing science. Although he points out some genuinely embarrassing decisions made by the Bush administration, he is utterly incapable of  grasping conservatives' ethical arguments, and he fundamentally misunderstands the conservative view of science.  [Full Story]

The New Atlantis, Summer 2005
With articles on video games, genetics, Star Trek, Hiroshima, and much more...
Posted: Monday, July 11, 2005
The latest issue of EPPC's journal The New Atlantis includes major new essays on video games, modern genetics, computers in education, and technology and private property. It also includes a pair of essays on the significance for bioethics of the writings of John Paul II, and a special tribute to the best science and technology articles from the four decades of The Public Interest.  [Full Story]

Artistry and Artifice
Why Machines Can't Be Creative
Posted: Sunday, May 22, 2005
When it comes to creativity, the field of artificial intelligence (AI) has had precious few results. The goal of making creative machines hangs forever on the horizon, never getting any closer. It remains perhaps the greatest challenge facing artificial intelligence researchers. As one of the field’s pioneers put it two decades ago, “The ultimate criterion for expertise in any area, whether chess or football or dance, is the ability to create something new.... Ultimately, creativity is the issue in AI.” The story of the many failures and partial successes of AI researchers seeking to develop creative machines is an instructive one – in no small measure because of what it teaches us about human thinking, desires, and creativity.  [Full Story]