Thanks, Russell!

Many thanks go out to Russell Blackford for guest blogging here last week. I'm sure my visitors enjoyed his contributions as much as I did.

This was an interesting and valuable experience for me. Russell will go down as the first person other than myself to contribute content to this blog. And I have to admit -- it was a strange feeling seeing someone else's work appearing alongside my own.

But this turned out to be a very good and healthy thing. It was an opportunity for me to offer my readers some new 'transhumanist' perspectives, and it helped me re-contextualize my own writing and the type of content I plan to post in the future.

Again, sincerest thanks to Russell. It was a delight having him here last week.

Here's the listing of Dr. Blackford's posts:

• Where's my alien civilisation? Part 1
• Where's my alien civilisation? Part 2
• Implications of the atheist bus
• Freedom of religion (or freedom of belief, conscience, and worship)
• Freedom of religion (belief, conscience, and worship) Part 2
• Now that we know each other a little bit better...
• Freedom of religion (belief, conscience, and worship) Part 3
  
• We interrupt transmission
• How to avoid a spiral of nonsense; or, the transhumanists strike back
• Update on Voices of Disbelief
• A short course in Geek Philosophy
• On the baggage of transhumanism
• The position statement by the Order of Cosmic Engineers
• So long for now
  

And as promised, I plan on having a new guest blogger appear here next month. I've already got a writer booked for February, so stay tuned for more.

Russell Blackford guest blogging here next week

Starting next week I'll be introducing a new feature on Sentient Developments: guest bloggers. Each month I will invite a writer and thinker who I admire and respect and whose work speaks in someway to SentDev's subject matter. Guests will be encouraged to post at least one article a day for an entire week.

I'm proud to announce that progressive Australian bioethicist, attorney and science fiction writer Russell Blackford PhD LLB will be the first guest blogger on Sentient Developments. Look for Russell's posts to begin next week on Monday January 19.

Here's Russell's bio:

I am an Australian writer, philosopher, and critic. I'm editor-in-chief of The Journal of Evolution and Technology, an on-line, peer-reviewed journal. As a creative writer, I specialise in science fiction and fantasy. My non-fiction work frequently deals with issues involving the human, or posthuman, future. I am interested in the ethics, and possible regulation, of emerging technologies, and the future of religion, morality, art, literature, political organisation, and human nature itself. Some of my articles are available on my web site. My formal qualifications include First Class Honours degrees in Arts and Law, a Ph.D on the supposed return to myth in contemporary literature, and a Master of Bioethics degree. I have now qualified for a second Ph.D (in philosophy this time); this may seem extravagant, but I have my reasons!

In addition, Dr. Blackford is a Fellow at the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies and he blogs over at the excellent Metamagician and the Hellfire Club. Be sure to check it out.