PHIL 421
Philosophy of Emerging Technology
Recurring · Upper-level undergraduate course
This course explores philosophical issues raised by recent and near-future technologies, including artificial intelligence, climate engineering, virtual reality, surveillance, gene editing, treatments for aging, and engineered viruses. We consider how these technologies may affect human well-being and agency, evaluate their risks, and ask how we might help shape a better future.
The course asks how AI may change work, relationships, and our access to knowledge; what principles should guide artificial agents; and what would make an artificial mind conscious or deserving of moral consideration. We also examine surveillance and autonomy, biosecurity, climate engineering, interventions in wild and farmed animals, and the ethics of human enhancement.
Questions of governance and responsibility run throughout: which technologies should we develop, who should control them, and how should we weigh immediate benefits against catastrophic risks and effects on future generations?
Readings
Readings from the Winter 2026 offering, grouped by topic. Optional readings are marked.
Technology, progress, and the future
- Suleyman, The Coming Wave
Chapter 2
- Roser, Technology over the Long Run (opens in a new tab)
- Walsh, The Doomers Are Wrong
- Lessig, Code Is Law
- Boudry, The Seven Laws of Declinism (opens in a new tab)Optional
- Ord, The Precipice
Introduction and chapter 1
Understanding AI and its effects on reasoning
- 3Blue1Brown, But What Is a Neural Network? (opens in a new tab)
Video
- Karpathy, Software 2.0 (opens in a new tab)
- Wolfram, What Is ChatGPT Doing … and Why Does It Work? (opens in a new tab)Optional
- Rini, Deepfakes: Truth in Trouble (opens in a new tab)
- Lu, Tormala, and Duhachek, How AI Sources Can Increase Openness to Opposing Views
Pages 1–2 and 10–11
- Thompson, The End of Thinking (opens in a new tab)
Work, well-being, and relationships
- Autor and Thompson, Beyond Job Displacement (opens in a new tab)
Sections III–V
- Susskind, A World without Work
Chapter 7, assigned excerpt pages 8–14
- Amodei, The Adolescence of Technology (opens in a new tab)
Section 4
- Balwit, “Career” Advice from the AI Frontier (opens in a new tab)Optional
- Keynes, Economic Possibilities for Our GrandchildrenOptional
- Nyholm, This Is Technology Ethics
Chapter 9
- De Freitas et al., AI Companions Reduce Loneliness
General Discussion, pages 18–20
- De Freitas et al., Lessons from an App Update at Replika AI: Identity Discontinuity in Human–AI Relationships
Pages 34–37
AI risk, alignment, consciousness, and moral status
- Hendrycks et al., An Overview of Catastrophic AI Risks
Pages 1–17
- Amodei, The Adolescence of Technology (opens in a new tab)
Section 2
- RAND, Global Catastrophic Risk AssessmentOptional
Chapter 9: Artificial Intelligence
- Ngo and Bales, Deceit and Power
Especially sections 3–6
- Gabriel, Artificial Intelligence, Values, and Alignment
Sections 3–4
- Park et al., AI Deception: A Survey of Examples, Risks, and Potential SolutionsOptional
- Chalmers, Could a Large Language Model Be Conscious? (opens in a new tab)
- Sebo and Long, Moral Consideration for AI Systems by 2030
Focus on sections 2 and 4
- Schwitzgebel and Garza, A Defense of the Rights of AIOptional
- Butlin et al., Consciousness in Artificial IntelligenceOptional
Surveillance, biosecurity, and climate engineering
- Véliz, Why Democracy Needs Privacy (opens in a new tab)
- Amodei, The Adolescence of Technology (opens in a new tab)
Section 3
- Feldstein, The Global Expansion of AI Surveillance (opens in a new tab)
- CBS News, Hegseth Demands Full Military Access to Anthropic’s AI Model (opens in a new tab)
- Suleyman, The Coming Wave
Chapter 5
- Interview with Kevin Esvelt (opens in a new tab)
- Esvelt, Delay, Detect, DefendOptional
- Hausfather and Keith, A Responsible Way to Cool the Planet (opens in a new tab)
- Keith, A Case for Climate Engineering
Chapter 5
- Kolbert, A Startup’s Bid to Dim the Sun
Animals, disease vectors, and agricultural technology
- Cobb, Gene Drives Could Fight Malaria and Other Global Killers but Might Have Unintended Consequences
- Barry et al., Why the Halt of Target Malaria Shows Social Science Is Crucial for Governing Emerging Technologies (opens in a new tab)
- Kurzgesagt, How Nuclear Flies Protect You from Flesh-Eating Parasites (opens in a new tab)
Video
- Johannsen, Wild Animal Ethics
Excerpts
- Kupferschmidt, After Humiliating Raid, Burkina Faso Halts Gene-Drive Project to Fight Malaria (opens in a new tab)Optional
- Habtewold et al., Gene-Drive-Capable MosquitoesOptional
Research study
- Huemer, The Conscience of a Human
Excerpts
- Shriver, Can Technology Succeed Where Morality Has Failed?
Pages 115–119; remainder optional
- Devolder, Genome Editing in Livestock, Complicity, and the Technological Fix Objection
Pages 1–5; remainder optional
- Singer, A Clear Case for Golden Rice
Human enhancement, aging, and digital minds
- Kass et al., Biotechnology and the Pursuit of Happiness (opens in a new tab)
- Ranisch, Germline Gene Editing and Genetic Enhancement: The Value of Non-Positional Goods
- Evans, Setting Ethical Limits on Human Gene Editing after the Fall of the Somatic/Germline Barrier
- Cohen, Did CRISPR Help—or Harm—the First-Ever Gene-Edited Babies? (opens in a new tab)
- Innovative Genomics Institute, CRISPR & Ethics (opens in a new tab)
Somatic vs. germline editing; treatment, prevention, and enhancement; regulating CRISPR ethics
- Kamm, Is There a Problem with Enhancement?
- Savulescu, Genetic Interventions and the Ethics of Enhancement of Human Beings
- Kuruc and Manley, The Ethics, Economics, and Demographics of Delaying Aging
- Chalmers, Uploading: A Philosophical Analysis
Pages 102–109
- Song and Dever, Brain Freeze (opens in a new tab)
- Thompson, Scientists Revive Activity in Frozen Mouse BrainsOptional
- Story, Cryonics: Traps and TransformationsOptional
- Sandberg and Bostrom, Whole Brain Emulation: A Roadmap (opens in a new tab)Optional
Catastrophic risk and what we should do
- Bostrom, The Vulnerable World Hypothesis
Pages 455–465
- Robichaud, The Puzzle of Non-Proliferation (opens in a new tab)
- Kuhlau et al., The Ethics of Disseminating Dual-Use KnowledgeOptional
- Suleyman, The Coming Wave
Chapter 13; chapter 14, assigned excerpt pages 35–42 (section 10); Afterword. Remainder of chapter 14 optional