Ikemoto Looks at Legal, Ethical Implications of Biohacking

Ikemoto
Thursday, April 4, 2019

On April 3, Prof. Lisa Ikemoto, JD, LLM (UC Davis School of Law) gave a provocative lecture in which she described current uses of biohacking – bodily modification to enhance human capacity – and their implications for law, regulation and conceptions of what is human. She related examples from the diverse community of biohackers and transhumanists, who share an optimistic view of the potential for improving bodies through technology, and discussed the ways their pursuits are the same as and different from previous practices like scientific self-experimentation. Prof. Francis X. Shen, JD, PhD (University of Minnesota Law School) commented on Prof. Ikemoto's talk, furthering her exploration of the spectrum of bodily modification, from familiar technology such as pacemakers and prosthetics to new devices that use electronic brain stimulation to increase user energy. The event was moderated by Prof. John Bischof, PhD (Institute for Engineering in Medicine, University of Minnesota). Video will be posted soon; to be notified when it's available, please email [email protected]