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Dr. William Struthers is apparently making a big splash all of a sudden. A researcher into neurobiology and neurophysiology, he's now making the lecture circuit of Evangelical churches preaching that his research shows that pornography is addictive "crack for the brain" and "more addicting than drugs."
So I went and looked up his curriculum vitae. Before he found this gig, Struthers' big thing was in the ethical application of neurobiology. His paper, Evangelical Neuroethics: Mapping The Mindfield, is fascinating because of its view of transhumanism. In a section entitled, "The Faking of Life Issues," Struthers claims that mind-machine interfaces and their potential for augmentation create a "wholly mechanistic" view of humanity, encourages intolerance for those who won't take augmentation, are more likely harmful than not, will not result in an improved quality of life, and will result in a "kind of person" that is not congruent with Biblical teachings. In his endnotes he discusses the need for Christians to come up with a game plan for "civil engagement."
Woah. Struthers is a man who can see the Singularity bearing down on him like cybertank and now feels that he must do everything he can to hold it off as long as possible; long enough, he hopes, for Jesus to come. I've said it before: Jesus better show up in the next fifty years because, if he doesn't, his promise of eternal life with be a paltry and pathetic offering compared to what we'll be able to do for ourselves.
So I went and looked up his curriculum vitae. Before he found this gig, Struthers' big thing was in the ethical application of neurobiology. His paper, Evangelical Neuroethics: Mapping The Mindfield, is fascinating because of its view of transhumanism. In a section entitled, "The Faking of Life Issues," Struthers claims that mind-machine interfaces and their potential for augmentation create a "wholly mechanistic" view of humanity, encourages intolerance for those who won't take augmentation, are more likely harmful than not, will not result in an improved quality of life, and will result in a "kind of person" that is not congruent with Biblical teachings. In his endnotes he discusses the need for Christians to come up with a game plan for "civil engagement."
Woah. Struthers is a man who can see the Singularity bearing down on him like cybertank and now feels that he must do everything he can to hold it off as long as possible; long enough, he hopes, for Jesus to come. I've said it before: Jesus better show up in the next fifty years because, if he doesn't, his promise of eternal life with be a paltry and pathetic offering compared to what we'll be able to do for ourselves.