The Center for Values in Medicine, Science, and Technology will wrap up its yearlong “Exploring Human Enhancement” lecture series this week with two days of academic presentations and discussions.

The April 8-9 symposium, like the lecture series itself, will weigh the ethical and cultural implications of technologies that increase physical and intellectual potential in humans. The event is being held at the Hyatt Regency North Dallas Hotel in Richardson.

The symposium’s two keynote lectures are free and open to the public:

  • “Extinction by Design: Genetic Enhancement and the Future of Human Evolution,” at 7:30 p.m., Friday, April 8, by Maxwell Mehlman.  The speaker is the director of the Law-Medicine Center at the Case School of Law in Cleveland, and professor of biomedical ethics at the Case School of Medicine. His most recent book is The Price of Perfection: Individualism and Society in the Era of Biomedical Enhancement
  • “Designing the Able Body,” Saturday, April 9, at 1:45 p.m. by Dr. Linda F. Hogle. The speaker is a professor of medical social sciences in the Department of Medical History and Bioethics in the School of Medicine and Public Health at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She has consulted with social scientists worldwide on stem cell research and medical technology innovations, including researchers working on the European Commission’s study of regenerative medicine.

Registration is required to attend the full symposium. Details are available at the symposium website.  Session topics include:

  • “The Ethical Implications of Taking Smart Drugs” will question whether enhancing is a type of cheating.
  • “Human Enhancement through Game-Based Simulations” will discuss how a virtual human in a game-based simulation creates human enhancement through interaction.

This is the second year of lectures by the Center for Values in Medicine, Science and Technology. The center was formed to promote understanding of the role that technology and scientific discoveries play in shaping the values of contemporary culture.The 2009 series focused on “Creativity in the Age of Technology.”