Nicholas Agar
Biographic Data
| ID | 409024 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Nicholas Agar |
| GIVEN NAMES | Nicholas |
| FAMILY NAME | Agar |
| SIGNATURE | AGAR N |
| AFFILIATIONS | Victoria University of Wellington |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-4707-662X |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 10 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 0 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 10 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1995 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 0 |
How Going to Space Changes the Debate About Radical Human Enhancement
This paper predicts that humans will venture into space and that, to survive and thrive in space, we will need to enhance our capacities radically. Moderate enhancement is insufficient for a humanity that commits to a future in Space. The paper is a partial retraction of the author's claims about the morality and prudential rationality of radical human enhancement. It allows that radical enhancement may be imprudent and immoral for Earth‐bound hu…
What Does it Mean to be Human, Prehuman, or Posthuman
There has been a lack of precision in attempts to say precisely what it might mean to be or become posthuman. This article offers a way to determine what distinguishes humans from posthumans. It treats the relationship between humans and posthumans as the mirror image of the relationship between humans and prehumans. I propose that we view posthumans as not us, but of us. Posthumans are distinct from humans but of humans, where the “of” expresses…
How to Treat Machines that Might Have Minds
How to Be Human in the Digital Economy
On the irrationality of mind-uploading
Enhancing genetic virtue
Mark Walker's fascinating paper calls for a Genetic Virtue Program (GVP)—an interdisciplinary effort to enhance human ethics. He urges that we achieve this by “promoting genes that influence the acquisition of the virtues.” Although the GVP is a worthy focus of philosophical debate, I have to confess to some doubts about its viability. We patently don't live in the best of all possible worlds, but I'm skeptical about the notion that the way to im…
Liberal Eugenics
The Problem with Nature
Francis Fukuyama's controversial new book, Our Posthuman Future: Consequences of the Biotechnology Revolution, has elicited varied reactions, but like it or not, it seems likely to be influential. Here are three opinions. —Ed
Perfect copy
Cloning may solve, once and for all, the problem of rejection that bedevils transplant surgery. Perhaps it even holds the secret of eternal life. But plans to clone humans have triggered an international storm of protest. Scientists including Ian Wilmut, politicians from left and right, and theologians from almost all religions find the idea not just unsavory, but abhorrent. Starting with the biology and building up the scientific background step…
Valuing Species and Valuing Individuals
My goal in this paper is to account for the value of species in terms of the value of individual organisms that make them up. Many authors have pointed to an apparent conflict between a species preservationist ethic and moral theories that place value on individuals. I argue for an account of the worth of individual organisms grounded in the representational goals of those organisms. I claim thatthis account leads to an acceptably extensive speci…
No prominent works on this page.
Valuing Species and Valuing Individuals
My goal in this paper is to account for the value of species in terms of the value of individual organisms that make them up. Many authors have pointed to an apparent conflict between a species preservationist ethic and moral theories that place value on individuals. I argue for an account of the worth of individual organisms grounded in the representational goals of those organisms. I claim thatthis account leads to an acceptably extensive speci…
The Problem with Nature
Francis Fukuyama's controversial new book, Our Posthuman Future: Consequences of the Biotechnology Revolution, has elicited varied reactions, but like it or not, it seems likely to be influential. Here are three opinions. —Ed
Perfect copy
Cloning may solve, once and for all, the problem of rejection that bedevils transplant surgery. Perhaps it even holds the secret of eternal life. But plans to clone humans have triggered an international storm of protest. Scientists including Ian Wilmut, politicians from left and right, and theologians from almost all religions find the idea not just unsavory, but abhorrent. Starting with the biology and building up the scientific background step…
Liberal Eugenics
Enhancing genetic virtue
Mark Walker's fascinating paper calls for a Genetic Virtue Program (GVP)—an interdisciplinary effort to enhance human ethics. He urges that we achieve this by “promoting genes that influence the acquisition of the virtues.” Although the GVP is a worthy focus of philosophical debate, I have to confess to some doubts about its viability. We patently don't live in the best of all possible worlds, but I'm skeptical about the notion that the way to im…
On the irrationality of mind-uploading
How to Be Human in the Digital Economy
How to Treat Machines that Might Have Minds
What Does it Mean to be Human, Prehuman, or Posthuman
There has been a lack of precision in attempts to say precisely what it might mean to be or become posthuman. This article offers a way to determine what distinguishes humans from posthumans. It treats the relationship between humans and posthumans as the mirror image of the relationship between humans and prehumans. I propose that we view posthumans as not us, but of us. Posthumans are distinct from humans but of humans, where the “of” expresses…
How Going to Space Changes the Debate About Radical Human Enhancement
This paper predicts that humans will venture into space and that, to survive and thrive in space, we will need to enhance our capacities radically. Moderate enhancement is insufficient for a humanity that commits to a future in Space. The paper is a partial retraction of the author's claims about the morality and prudential rationality of radical human enhancement. It allows that radical enhancement may be imprudent and immoral for Earth‐bound hu…
Philosophy (6 works) · Epistemology (5 works) · Environmental ethics (4 works) · Neuroethics, Human Enhancement, Biomedical Innovations (4 works) · Sociology (3 works) · Computer Science (2 works) · Human enhancement (2 works) · Humanity (2 works) · Law (2 works) · Political science (2 works)