Long description:

Novel Beings is a forward-looking exploration into the divide between proactive and reactive regulatory approaches to the cross-section of biotechnology and artificial intelligence (AI) research. Addressing an innovative area of academic study, Novel Beings questions how this research, which has the potential to create new forms of morally valuable life, could be regulated.

This fascinating book examines the promises and perils of conflicting approaches to regulating emerging technologies in the unique context of this probable challenge for law and society. An impressive, and multidisciplinary, selection of expert contributors offer considerations vital to any attempt to address these issues before they become impossible to prevent or rectify. Chapters explore technologies such as genomics, synthetic biology and neurotechnologies, as well the profusion of ?expert systems? ? algorithms and simple AI that interweave through everyday life, from smart assistants, to the financial markets, to social media. David Lawrence and Sarah Morley also discuss the global challenges for society and the laws regarding the status of these technological beings, their protections and obligations.

This book will appeal to researchers and academics who are interested in the regulation of emerging technology. It will also provide a beneficial new resource for scholars and postgraduate students studying emerging technology in different fields, such as law, bioethics and philosophy.

Novel Beings is a forward-looking exploration into the divide between proactive and reactive regulatory approaches to the cross-section of biotechnology and artificial intelligence (AI) research. Addressing an innovative area of academic study, Novel Beings questions how this research, which has the potential to create new forms of morally valuable life, could be regulated.

?As technologies lead inexorably to the creation of intelligent beings, the need to find practical solutions to questions of moral value, status, and resulting obligations becomes increasingly urgent. This important collection depicts challenges and marks a significant advancement in the field of biolaw in its articulation of potential proactive and reactive regulatory solutions.?

Table of Contents:

Contents:

Introduction 1

PART I PROACTIVE REGULATION
1 Embedded ethics as preparatory regulation of technology:
a new solution to the Collingridge Dilemma? 12
Daniel Tigard
2 Repugnance, denial, and fear: societal challenges for
regulation of novel beings 29
David R. Lawrence
3 Morally significant technology: a case against mere
corporate self-regulation 46
Sarah Morley
4 Beware Oz the Great and Powerful: sci-fi determinism,
flawed artificial intelligence and emerging regulatory frameworks 83
Alan Dignam
5 Newer technologies, older attitudes, and retrograde regulation 124
David R. Lawrence and John Harris

PART II REACTIVE REGULATION
6 Being novel? Regulating emerging technologies under
conditions of uncertainty 140
Joseph T.F. Roberts and Muireann Quigley
7 The ?ethical? regulation of ?novel being? technologies:
the potential role for patents as ethical drivers, blockers
and guiders? 171
Aisling McMahon
8 A phased approach to protection of artificial beings 194
Colin Gavaghan and Mike King
9 Concluding remarks 223

Index