This conference is concerned with human enhancement, past and present. In the present, a broad set of developments across the fields of artificial intelligence and biology are unlocking transformational powers over the natural world. Within that context, a slew of proposals directed at the enhancement of humans have gained notoriety in recent years.

We will bring together scholars from across disciplines to discuss how that past can and should inform moral debates in the present.

For example: what should be the role of the historian, philosopher, and other scholars be in contemporary moral debates over enhancement? What topics and time periods might even be relevant to such debates? What can we learn from past critics of human enhancement? What did proponents of enhancement believe to be at stake in their efforts? And what is at stake today as we ponder the morality and desirability of enhancement proposals?

Please contact Andrew Moeller with any questions at: andrew.moeller@history.ox.ac.uk.