Professor Stefan Sorgner: A Transhumanist Take on the Impact of Coronavirus

JCU philosophy professor Stefan Lorenz Sorgner was featured on the cover of the Immortalists Magazine, a transhumanist lifestyle and educational publication. The issue contains a detailed interview entitled “The Future of Digital Surveillance and Healthcare,”  in which Professor Sorgner explains his reflections concerning his transhumanist take on the impact of the coronavirus crisis.

A Transhumanist Take on Coronavirus: Professor Stefan Lorenz Sorgner

Professor Stefan Lorenz Sorgner

A selection of his reflections on the pandemic can also be found in a video that is part of the channel “Posthumans go Viral. According to Professor Sorgner, there is a conflict between health and privacy. As an increased health span is identical to a better quality of life for most human beings, we should focus on health. This does not imply, however, that we must thereby abandon freedom. In contrast, his reflections reveal an intriguing line of thought: if we are forced to choose between health and privacy, we should go for freedom.

Professor Sorgner teaches in the Department of History and Humanities at John Cabot University in Rome. A leading expert on transhumanism, he is director and co-founder of the Beyond Humanism Network, Fellow at the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies (IEET), and Research Fellow at the Ewha Institute for the Humanities at Ewha Womans University in Seoul.

In Fall 2020, Professor Sorgner will be teaching PH 101 Introduction to Philosophical Thinking, PH 325 Ethics of Emerging Technologies, and PH/RL 224 Living the Good Life: Religious and Philosophical Ethics.