[lbo-talk] Philip Mirowski - Social Physicist

Somebody Somebody philos_case at yahoo.com
Fri Mar 5 12:15:20 PST 2010


Chris Doss: You could argue that people would be better off (happier, more efficient) if they all had a dog's sense of smell. Therefore, not having a dog's sense of smell is unhealthy and a disease and we should give everybody bionic noses to cure them.

Somebody: You're right, except for the part where you call it a disease. There's no need to qualify it as a disease except informally, since strictly speaking we've already dissolved that term. But, yeah, why not give everyone bionic noses? It sounds absurd, but this sort of bioengineering is almost certainly going to become an option in the future. Hopefully, the left will come on board so as to ensure a role for public provision and regulation, because as it is, there's a strong libertarian current in the so-called transhumanist movement.



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