Call for papers - 21st Century Body Reloaded

24 June 2013

Symposium, 7-8th
November 2013, London

Exciting developments in the life
sciences and their application in biotechnology are helping to provide
pioneering cures and therapies for inherited and degenerative diseases.
Consider genomics and genetic based therapies, neuroscience and neuropharmacology,
ICT implants and prosthetics, nanomedicine and the required socio-cultural
accommodations to ageing and you will see how the way in which we perceive
ourselves and those around us is slowly being recast. As our knowledge
and its application continues to grow and expand, the range, scope and
magnitude of what we are able to achieve seems to be limitless.

Building on the success of last
year’s event and the many positive and encouraging comments from participants,
this year’s interdisciplinary symposium is convened in order to further build
capacity as well as consolidate existing scholarship on perspectives on the
human body and identity in the face of new advances in emerging technologies.

FURTHER DETAILS

Technology forecasters point to
advances in nanoscience and nanotechnology as an ‘enabling technology’ which
opens up further opportunities when combined with other technologies.
This “convergence” of new emerging technologies therefore becomes a matter of
great debate. This is seen, for example, when advances in nanoscience converge
with developments in biotechnology, which also utilise developments in
information technology to capture and simulate human abilities using artificial
intelligence systems and, more controversially, cognitive science. As the
animal-human distinction becomes increasingly blurred, it is plain to see the
increasing growth of human power over nature in all of its forms including
traditional and contemporary understanding about human nature itself. More than
just speculative science fiction, talk of brain implants and neural imaging,
cyborg enhancement and virtual reality simulation is suddenly becoming a
pressing reality.

At this time we are faced with a key
question: what does it mean to be human in the 21st Century? A series of
identity crises emerge. Against the backdrop of developments in ICT, and
especially in virtual contexts we are keen to ensure that our identities are
protected and can be authenticated appropriately, without fear of them being
reconstructed by others. Likewise, concern is expressed over the question of
privacy and surveillance when we encounter new forms of identifying
technologies such as biometrics which could challenge our freedom and dignity.
As genetic and neuroscience technologies evolve, they provoke and unsettle some
of our traditional perceptions of who and what we are.

It is envisaged that this symposium
will contribute to the conversation on this theme and by drawing from insights
and ideas from across the disciplines, the aim will be to chart challenges to,
and changes in perceptions of identity and the human body in the 21st century.

Some key questions this symposium
will aim to address include the following:

Is human identity being transformed,
redefined or superseded through new developments in medicine and technology?

Do these new emerging technologies
present as radical and revolutionary changes to how we see ourselves (as is
sometimes claimed)? Or, are they in fact no different to their predecessors?

How are we to evaluate or assess the
moral significance of these new technologies to our identity as humans?

What does it mean to have identity
and to be identifiable in the 21st Century?

Are new technologies helping to
redefine what we recognise as the human body? Are they in some ways helping to
make the human body redundant? If so, in what ways?

What are the social, ethical and
policy implications of these changes, both locally and globally, as we
increasingly encounter the rapid expansion of biotechnologies worldwide?

Is altering the shape and appearance
of the body contributing to our loss of contact with the body? How does this
affect traditional ideas about the mind/body distinction?

SUBMISSION DETAILS

We invite submission of abstracts in
the first instance, with a word limit of around 500-750 words (maximum), and
not including references. The abstract should clearly outline main arguments
and conclusions of the paper. On the basis of these abstracts, the
academic organising committee will compose a short list of speakers to be
invited to submit full-length papers for presentation at the symposium, which
will be held in London in November 2013.

All abstracts must be submitted
through EasyChair (in a Word attachment; without inclusion of personal details
to allow for blind reviewing).