Tuesday 26 February 2013

Redefining the human #edcmooc

Week 4 is about how 'the human' is a flexible category, one we can change and re-make in the interests of a fairer society.  
I read a little bit of 
Bostrom (2005) ‘Transhumanist values’ reproduced from Review of Contemporary Philosophy, Vol. 4, May (2005)http://www.nickbostrom.com/ethics/values.html
"The enhancement options being discussed include radical extension of human health-span, eradication of disease, elimination of unnecessary suffering, and augmentation of human intellectual, physical, and emotional capacities. Other transhumanist themes include space colonization and the possibility of creating superintelligent machines, along with other potential developments that could profoundly alter the human condition". 
Such ideas and developments are, in equal parts, exciting and scary   That's it, that is the only way I can think of describing it.  

So what about education.  I read a little bit of 
System upgrade: realising the vision for UK education (2012) EPSRC Technology Enhanced Learning Research Programme. http://tel.ioe.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/TELtaster.pdf
I think that education needs technology otherwise it won't be able to advance and develop the opportunities that people need and deserve.  Technology needs education in order to enable people to reach their potential and realise visions.  And to make life better.  

I watched one of the recommended films for the week.  It is called Gumdrop and was fascinating and appealing.  It is a robot with a very human voice.  The words and the way the story is told is appealing, it's as if it's a 'real person'.  And that's the point - we can distinguish between what is real and what isn't and I believe we will always inherently know that what we should be doing is engaging on a human level.  Hopefully.
http://youtu.be/A7sjoI5QjBY








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