James Hennessy '71
Thursday, April 9, 2009
7:00 p.m.
Eben Holden Center
Future Tense: Social and Ethical Implications of the Coming Technological Revolution
Our future should be peaceful and prosperous. So states the United Nations Millennium Project 2008 State of the Future Report. Rapid advances in converging technologies including genomics, robotics, information technology, nanotechnology and neuroscience (GRINN) should assure continued world improvement.
Genomics will dramatically improve our health and life expectancy. Nanotechnology will enable all technological advances and provide the basis for the next industrial revolution. Geoengineering based on GRINN technologies may save us from global warming and mitigate further environmental degradation.
The promise of the GRINN technologies is open ended but there is a dark side that must be considered. How safe are these technologies? Will risks be understood and contained or will these capabilities be misused by rogue individuals or institutions? Albert Einstein famously mused that technology is like an ax in the hands of a psychopath. Most importantly, GRINN technologies will change our notions of social organization and what it means to be human. A group of elite thinkers and scientists known as Transhumanists believe we will be transformed into unimaginably different creatures. What if they are right? Are we ready?
Mr. Hennessy ’71 serves on the board of Allis-Chalmers Energy, Inc. (Texas) and on the advisory board of the Center for Law, Science & Technology at the Sandra Day
O’Connor School of Law at Arizona State University. He was president and CEO of ING Funds, a United States mutual fund business of ING Group, 2001 - 2006. While with ING Funds, Mr. Hennessy oversaw approximately 216 mutual funds with an aggregate of about $92 billion in assets. From 2003 through 2007, he served on the board of governors of the Investment Company Institute, the national trade association for the mutual fund industry. Mr. Hennessy is also on the St. Lawrence Alumni Executive Council. He has a law degree from New York University.
