Last Tuesday evening the International Union of Lawyers (UIA) held a conference in Luxembourg on the theme of "Augmented Man: from science fiction to reality", a moving subject that puts into question this notion and even humanity with unprecedented ethical, moral, political and philosophical issues.
Open to all and not just to lawyers, the event, which was lead by Alain Grosjean, an expert in data privacy and information technology law at Bonn & Schmitt in Luxembourg, was an opportunity to talk about issues related to NBIC (Nanotechnology, Biotechnology, Artificial Intelligence and Cognitive Science). There were over 150 participants in attendance with some from outside Luxembourg, demonstrating the increasing interest in here on the topic of data protection.
Gaspard Koenig, French philosopher and director of the think-tank ‘GenerationLibre’, opened the debate with a bold question ‘Is transhumanism a humanism?’ In a speech full of some interesting and amusing references in science and our culture, Mr Koenig set apart the individual 2.0, currently emerging from laboratories in California, and the individual 1.0 that we are now. He invited us not to deny the mutation of our humanity, while leaving to chance, what our humanity actually is. He stated that our governments should be aware of the issues and the necessary regulation and legal development before it is commercialised and further developed by companies like Google.
Fabrice Pakin, entrepreneur in the field of e-health and founder of the startup Ignilife, intervened on the theme of intelligence algorithms in the service of medical prevention. Confident in the future of the biological man, he outlined the benefits of predictive, participatory, customised and personalised medicine that technology now makes available to us all.
The conference was also an opportunity to celebrate the publication of the collective work of UIA "European Policy Issues and global protection of personal data "published by Larcier editions. This 465-page book includes the scientific work of over 30 specialists responsible for the protection of personal data. It provides a practical and convenient legal analysis on the main developments of the existing rules and regulations on this subject. The theme will also be addressed in the Valencia annual UIA Congress on 29 October 2015. ‘With automation of intellectual tasks, will lawyers be replaced by robots by 2030?’ A little NEO robot will be included as a speaker at the session of the Commission on Privacy in the Valencia congresses, reminding us that transhumanism is part of today’s reality.
Photo by Clive Munn
