The Virtuous Cyborg

ARE YOU A VIRTUOUS CYBORG?

You do everything on your smartphone and love it – you are, now and forevermore, a cyborg. But how would you know if you were a good cyborg? Game designer and philosopher Chris Bateman explores cyborg virtue through problems such as cyberbullying, ‘fake news’, and the indifference of computers to human needs. Bateman reveals our shallow-sightedness in the face of the unfathomable complexity of our cybernetic networks. Critical yet optimistic, The Virtuous Cyborg rises to the challenge of the twenty-first century by asking us to ponder the question of what kind of cyborgs we want to become.

Dr Chris Bateman is an outsider philosopher, game designer and author. Graduating with a Masters degree in Artificial Intelligence/ Cognitive Science, he has since pursued highly-acclaimed independent research into how and why people play games, and was the first person in the world to gain a Doctorate in the aesthetics of play experiences. He works in the digital entertainment industry as an expert in game design and narrative, and has nearly fifty published game credits, including the acclaimed Discworld Noir and Ghost Master.

The future is coming at us fast, and Chris Bateman is a masterful guide to the most urgent questions we face there. – Jane McGonigal

...highlights our often myopic view of the cyber networks we find ourselves living in, teasing out the underlying ethical issues with compelling clarity. – Justin Robertson

Available as an Ebook:

The Virtuous Cyborg by Chris Bateman

Bateman’s proposal of cybervirtue might be a clever way of sneaking a new gentler human spirit into society at large.– Michaël Samyn

Bateman brings a fresh and vigorous philosophical voice to explore virtue theory and cyborgs, robots, and AI, including classical and cutting edge ethical debates. – Babette Babich