Dr Russell Blackford
Email: russellblackford@bigpond.com
Curriculum Vitae for Russell
Thesis Topic:
"The philosophy of human enhancement."
Supervisor:
Interests:
Moral philosophy, including philosophical bioethics; legal and political philosophy; philosophy and popular culture; metaphysics; philosophy of religion; philosophy of biology.
Appointment:
In January 2008, Russell was appointed as editor-in-chief of the Journal of Evolution and Technology, an on-line refereed journal published by the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies. JET is an interdisciplinary journal devoted to issues relating to the future of humanity, and particularly the prospect of a new kind of evolution in which technology is used to alter human bodies and capacities.
Selected Recent Publications:
- "Judicial Power, Political Liberty and the Post-Industrial State."Australian Law Journal 71 (1997): 267-93.
- "Thinking about Cloning: A Reply to Judith Thomson." Journal of Law and Medicine 9 (2001): 238-50.
- "Stranger Than You Think: Arthur C. Clarke's Profiles of the Future." Prefiguring Cyberculture: An Intellectual History. Ed. Darren Tofts, Annemarie Jonson, and Alessio Cavellaro. Sydney: Power Publications, 2002; co-published Boston: MIT Press, 2003: 252-63.
- "Mutants, Cyborgs, AI & Androids." Meanjin 63, 1 (2004): 14-21.
- "Try the Blue Pill: What's Wrong with Life in a Simulation?"Jacking In to the Matrix Franchise: Cultural Reception and Interpretation. Ed. Matthew Kapell and William Doty. New York: Continuum, 2004: 169-82.
- "Should We Fear Death? Epicurean and Modern Arguments." Immortality Institute, ed. The Scientific Conquest of Death: Essays on Infinite Lifespans. Buenos Aires: LibrosEnRed, 2004: 257-69.
- "Human Cloning and 'Posthuman' Society." Monash Bioethics Review 24 (2005): 10-26.
- "Stem cell research on other worlds, or why embryos do not have a right to life." Journal of Medical Ethics 32 (2006): 177-80.
- "Sinning Against Nature: The Theory of Background Conditions." Journal of Medical Ethics 32 (2006): 629-34.
- "Dr. Frankenstein meets Lord Devlin: Genetic Engineering and the Principle of Intangible Harm." The Monist 89 (2006): 526-47.
Personal:
Russell Blackford was born in Sydney, Australia, grew up in the Lake Macquarie district south of Newcastle, and moved to Melbourne in 1979. Russell is also a widely-published writer and critic in the field of science fiction and fantasy. His other interests include travel and cinema. For more information, see his personal web site: www.russellblackford.com.