A question we encounter through Adam & Eve in Genesis; Lucifer in Paradise Lost; Victor Frankenstein’s nameless Monster; Sam Altman and ChatGPT; Elon Musk and Grok... The list goes on!
In his short novella Bicentennial Man, science fiction writer Isaac Asimov probed the question, “How important is embodiment to humanness?” In the story, Andrew the robot exhibits all the evidence of being human. He loves, creates, forms bonds, imagines, and longs for his own autonomy. Yet, he is not accepted into the human community because he does not digest, defecate, succumb to illness, age, or die. Through this story, Asimov raises layers of intriguing questions around the significance of bodies to human identity.
In his book What Technology Wants, co-founder of Wired Magazine Kevin Kelly proposes a theory that technology has been evolving alongside homo sapiens for millennia, much like coral and the coral reef. Kelly names this symbiosis the Technium and posits that although it lacks sentience, it does have a “will” of its own – a trajectory. Kelly recommends a thoughtful, values-based approach to human decision making around technology, in contrast to a mindless, uncritical engagement. What might this look like? What values come into play when we make choices around technology?
The pillars of bioethics include autonomy, beneficence, nonmaleficence, and social justice. In Aristotelian ethics, not all ethical principles address restricting behavior. Ethics also involves fostering human flourishing, promoting being well and doing well. How do these principles intersect with advances in medical research and technology, including regenerative medicine and bio fabrication?
• How are bodies integral to humanness?
• What is the relationship between body and soul?
• How have scientific revolutions and paradigm shifts challenged worldviews over time? What revolutions and shifts might be challenging our current worldviews?
• How do the ways we think about bodies reflect our cultural concepts of normativity? How might we interrogate those concepts?
• What does “hostile architecture” reflect about our cultural values and norms? How does one challenge and change such norms?
• How do non-western cultures conceptualize the relationship between bodies and humanness? What might we learn from others?
• How and when did shapeshifting mythologies emerge? What do shape-shifting mythologies reflect about bodies and identity?
• How have bodies been portrayed in the arts – both fine arts and performing arts – across time? Do the arts reflect or shape cultural norms? What role or responsibility might artists have in this regard?
• What impact has photoshop technology had on cultural thinking around bodies? Has this technology had a level of influence that we’ve not yet fully recognized or explored?
Cross-cultural and comparative studies of health and illness
How religious and ethical perspectives influence thinking about medicine and health
Critical thinking about equity, access, and resource distribution of health services and medicine
Art and Literature: How is medicine and health depicted, contested, and sustained through visual and written mediums?
Music and Art: What is the role of music and art in healing processes?
History and Classics: How have ideas around medicine, health and technology been treated historically, and how do they influence our understanding today?
Architecture and Design: How do we understand and envision medicine and health in “place and space”? How do public spaces support health and well-being or vice versa, how do space and place harm human health?
Design and Psychology: How do we design a therapeutic space?
Disability Justice: What is the relationship between accessibility and the questions of medical humanities?
Language and Culture: How do different cultures/languages (present and historical) create and interpret conceptions of health and medicine?
Music and Performance Art: How do we explore, portray, interpret, and reveal understanding and conceptions of medicine and health, both individually and collectively?