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Emerging technologies hold great promise but also pose major challenges to global politics, national and international security, human dignity and human destiny. This book examines the latest innovations, key trends and geopolitical and human implications of emerging strategic technologies such as Biotechnology, Nanotechnology and Artificial Intelligence. The potential use and misuse of these technologies in human enhancement (physical and cognitive) is considered to be one of the major challenges of our time. Nayef Al-Rodhan argues that human enhancement and the future evolution into transhumans is inevitable. To prepare for these potential existential threats, the global community is urged to establish strict moral and legal guidelines that balance the need for innovation with the guarantee of dignity for all.
Table of Contents
General Introduction
PART I: EMERGING STRATEGIC TECHNOLOGIES - GEOPOLITICAL IMPLICATIONS
Introduction
Information and Communications Technology (ITC)
Energy and Climate Change
Health Care
Biotechnology
Nanotechnology
Materials Science
Artificial Intelligence
Conclusions of Part I
PART II: EMERGING STRATEGIC TECHNOLOGIES - HUMAN ENHANCEMENT, DIGNITY AND DESTINY IMPLICATIONS
Introduction
Human Enhancement: The Nature of the Debate
The Science and Technology of Human Enhancement
The Geopolitics of Human Enhancement: Applying the 'Multi-Sum Security Principle'
Criteria for a Regulatory Framework on Human Enhancement
Conclusions of Part II
General Conclusions
Endorsement
"This is a fascinating account of the interplay of new technologies and national power. It goes beyond mechanistic estimates to explore social and political consequences of a world reshaped by technological change. The discussion of human enhancement through drugs or genetic manipulation is engrossing and raises new and difficult problems, both political and ethical, for what will soon be a very different world. The scope of the book, with its discussion of a full range of new technologies of consequences, makes it unique and insightful as a guide to one of the fundamental forces that will reshape international politics."
James Lewis, Director and Senior Fellow, Technology and Public Policy Program, Centre for Strategic and International Studies, Washington DC, United States.
"This book takes a broad look at emerging technologies and their role in enabling humanity to further its evolution. Nayef Al-Rodhan comprehensively addresses the key trends of these strategic technologies and the highly relevant geopolitical and strategic implications. Within this framework, he highlights the need for setting transnational policies in place to ensure ubiquitous human dignity and the freedom to choose our own destiny. This study is a scientific and breathtaking voyage into the future that will enchant the reader and encourage society to meditate on our human nature and subsequent responsibilities."
Giovanni De Micheli, Director of the Electrical Engineering Institute and Integrated Systems Centre at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland.