Search results for ""Author Michael C. Brannigan""

Would you want to be cared for by a robot? Michael C. Brannigan’s Caregiving, Carebots, and Contagion explores caring robots’ lifesaving benefits, particularly during contagion, while probing the threat they pose to interpersonal engagement and genuine human caregiving. As our COVID-19 purgatory lingers on, caring robots will join our nursing and healthcare frontlines. Carebots can perform lifesaving tasks to minimize infection, safeguard vulnerable persons, and relieve caregivers of certain burdens. They also spark profound moral and existential questions: What is caring? How will we relate with each other? What does it mean to be human?Underscoring carebots' hands-on benefits, Brannigan also warns us of perils. They can be a dangerous lure in a culture that settles for substitutes and venerates the screen. Alerting us to the threatening prospect of carebots becoming our surrogate for interpersonal connection, he maintains they are not the culprits. The challenge lies in how we relate to them. While they beneficially complement our caregiving, carebots cannot replace human caring. Caring is a fundamentally human act and lies at the heart of ethics. As humans, we have a binding moral responsibility to care for the Other, and genuine caring demands our embodied, human-to-human presence.

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What is biotechnology? What are its goals? Are there global benefits, or are there more perils than promises? Why is it that the poor remain poor? This book exposes biotechnology within a global context and challenges us to cultivate a shared humane vision. Part one outlines major global issues and international policies. Here we see the ubiquitous tension between commercialization and equitable access. The need for global partnership is clear. Part two examines specific biotechnological challenges in various cultures: genetic research in the U.S.A.; genetic testing and regulatory concerns in Canada; embryonic research in Europe; overcoming past legacies in the former Soviet republic; Jewish and Islamic perspectives on biotechnologies; food security issues in Africa; Confucianism in Asia; and the role of indigenous cultures. Part three explores global challenges: the need to balance intellectual property rights and fair access; the need for media sensitivity to cultural contexts; finally, the need to better understand and prepare for bioterrorism. Although western voices still dominate the discussion, it is time to listen to other viewpoints from other cultures. This book embraces a global voice and message: Cross-cultural bridge-building is needed now, more than ever.

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