Mark Alan Walker (born 1963) is a Canadian-American philosopher. He is a professor of philosophy at

New Mexico State University New Mexico State University (NMSU or NM State) is a public, land-grant, research university in Las Cruces, New Mexico, United States. Founded in 1888, it is the state's oldest public institution of higher education, and was the original land-g ...

, where he occupies the Richard L. Hedden Endowed Chair in Advanced Philosophical Studies. Prior to his professorship at NMSU Prof. Walker taught at

McMaster University McMaster University (McMaster or Mac) is a public research university in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. The main McMaster campus is on of land near the residential neighbourhoods of Ainslie Wood, Ontario, Ainslie Wood and Westdale, Ontario, Westd ...

in the department of philosophy and the Arts & Science Programme. He is the author of ''Happy-People Pills for All'' (Oxford: Blackwell Press, 2013) and ''Free Money for All'' (New York: Palgrave, 2016). Walker founded and was president of the former nonprofit organizatio
Permanent End International
(2003–2007), which had been devoted to ending

hunger In politics, humanitarian aid, and the social sciences, hunger is defined as a condition in which a person does not have the physical or financial capability to eat sufficient food to meet basic nutritional needs for a sustained period. In t ...

illiteracy Literacy is the ability to read and write, while illiteracy refers to an inability to read and write. Some researchers suggest that the study of "literacy" as a concept can be divided into two periods: the period before 1950, when literacy was ...

and

environmental degradation Environment most often refers to: __NOTOC__ * Natural environment, referring respectively to all living and non-living things occurring naturally and the physical and biological factors along with their chemical interactions that affect an organism ...

through the dissemination of modular

aquaponics Aquaponics is a food production system that couples aquaculture (raising aquatic animals such as fish, crayfish, snails or prawns in tanks) with hydroponics (cultivating plants in water) whereby the nutrient-rich aquaculture water is fed to h ...

systems for farming. He serves on the editorial board of the

Journal of Evolution and Technology The Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies (IEET) is a technoprogressive think tank that seeks to "promote ideas about how technological progress can increase freedom, happiness, and human flourishing in democratic societies."Joseph R. ...

and on the board of directors of the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies. He is a former board member of the non-profit organization Humanity+ (formerly World Transhumanist Association). Professor Walker is a

consequentialist In moral philosophy, consequentialism is a class of normative, teleological ethical theories that holds that the consequences of one's conduct are the ultimate basis for judgement about the rightness or wrongness of that conduct. Thus, from ...

who argues that humans have a responsibility to perfect themselves in the realm of morality and virtue. He has written extensively about the ethics of using technology to enhance human capabilities (including advocacy of superlongevity and biohappiness); about the possibility of enhancing virtue genetically, through both genetic modification and the cultivation of humans with larger brains and a better understanding of moral reasoning; and about the moral obligations that humans may have toward artificially intelligent beings in the future. He also co-authored an influential piece about the nexus between

transhumanism Transhumanism is a philosophical and intellectual movement that advocates the human enhancement, enhancement of the human condition by developing and making widely available new and future technologies that can greatly enhance longevity, cogni ...

and religion, with Heidi Campbell. Ted Peters, "Perfect Humans or Trans-humans?" in Celia Deane-Drummond and Peter Scott, eds., ''Future Perfect?'' (Continuum International Publishing Group, 2006), pp. 18, 21.

References

External links

Mark Alan Walker's homepage
{{DEFAULTSORT:Walker, Mark Alan 1963 births Living people 20th-century Canadian philosophers 21st-century Canadian philosophers Canadian transhumanists New Mexico State University faculty