A History of Ideas29 Tammi 2015

Surgeon Gabriel Weston on medical technology

Surgeons of the distant past were little more than skilled butchers, trying to minimise the agony of their bone-sawing craft. Surgery itself was a last-resort and one you might not survive, and if you did, one of many brutal contagious diseases might wipe you out instead.

But spool forward through history, past the growth in sanitation, inventions of anaesthesia, antibiotics, radiation therapy and the discovery of germ theory, and look at the world of the present-day medic. Safe, effective drug treatments are par for the course, and surgeons, operating in controlled, clinical environments, can count light-rays and robots-assistants alongside scalpels in their quiver of surgical instruments.

Clearly medical technology has come a long way. But along with changing how we look, how we think and how we live, have these developments changed who we are as a species? And are we heading in a positive direction?

The meteoric rise of elective, 'cosmetic' surgery is testament to the changing expectations we place on our bodies, but the idea of either drugging or cutting ourselves in pursuit of perfection leaves many feeling uneasy.

Not everyone feels this way however; 'transhumanists' believe that it's not just possible, but philosophically noble, to try to break through our biological limitations through drugs, genetic modification, or enhancement therapies. They believe the future of our species relies on actively pursuing the dream of 'Superintelligence, Superlongevity and Superhappiness'. But at what cost?

Surgeon Gabriel Weston looks at the past, present, and the weird and wonderful future of medicine to find the answer.

Tämä jakso on lisätty Podme-palveluun avoimen RSS-syötteen kautta eikä se ole Podmen omaa tuotantoa. Siksi jakso saattaa sisältää mainontaa.

Jaksot(60)

Historian Justin Champion on Francis Bacon

Historian Justin Champion on Francis Bacon's anxieties about the fallibility of technological innovators. The 17th century polymath Francis Bacon blew a fanfare for the new scientific age: where man w...

28 Tammi 201512min

Writer Tom Chatfield: Has technology rewired our brains?

Is technology making us less human? Writer, Tom Chatfield is an enthusiastic downloader of the latest apps, an early adopter of anything small and shiny that promises to smooth his path through life. ...

27 Tammi 201512min

How Has Technology Changed Us?

A new history of ideas presented by Melvyn Bragg but told in many voices.Melvyn is joined by four guests with different backgrounds to discuss a really big question. This week he's asking how has tech...

26 Tammi 201512min

Giles Fraser on Wittgenstein and Blade Runner

Giles Fraser thinks being human isn't a matter of biology or some unique attribute like language. It's not to do with what we are but about how we treat each other. Taking the work of the philosopher ...

23 Tammi 201512min

Barry Smith on Noam Chomsky and Human Language

Barry Smith argues that language is our most important uniquely human attribute. It doesn't just help us communicate, it helps us to think. He makes the case for the distinctiveness of human language ...

22 Tammi 201512min

Catharine Edwards on Seneca and facing death.

Catharine Edwards wants to introduce you to the Roman Philosopher Seneca. But he's dying. Towards the end of his life Seneca became interested in the idea that only human beings had foreknowledge of t...

21 Tammi 201512min

Simon Schaffer on humans, apes and Carl Linnaeus

Simon Schaffer is interested in the human species in general and one member of it in particular. Carl Linnaeus was a Swedish botanist and zoologist who set out the basic structure of how we name and u...

20 Tammi 201513min

What Makes Us Human?

A new history of ideas presented by Melvyn Bragg but told in many voices. Melvyn is joined by four guests with different backgrounds to discuss a really big question. This week he's asking What make...

19 Tammi 201512min