David R. Koepsell, J.D./Ph.D.

David is an author, philosopher, attorney (retired), and educator whose recent research focuses on the nexus of science, technology, ethics, and public policy. He has provided commentary regarding ethics, society, religion, and technology on: MSNBC, Fox News Channel, The Guardian, The Washington Times, NPR Radio, Radio Free Europe, Air America, The Atlanta Journal Constitution, and the Associated Press, among others. He has been a tenured Associate Professor of Philosophy at the Delft University of Technology, Faculty of Technology, Policy, and Management in the Netherlands, Visiting Professor at UNAM, Instituto de Filosoficas, Mexico, and Director of Research and Strategic Initiatives at COMISIÓN NACIONAL DE BIOÉTICA in Mexico. For full academic CV, click here.

Education/Honors

State University of New York at Buffalo

1997 Ph.D., Philosophy Department, February 27, 1997. Dissertation: The Ontology of Cyberspace: Law, Philosophy, and the Future of Intellectual Property.

1995 J.D. SUNY at Buffalo School of Law. Buffalo Law Review, Systems Editor. Desmond Moot Court Board, Connelly Trial Technique Award.

1990 B.A. magna cum laude, Political Science/English with High Distinction. Phi Beta Kappa.

Academic Appointments

Jan-July 2015 Visiting Prof. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Instituto de Investigaciones Filosóficas, Mexico, D.F.

Present: Director of Research and Strategic Initiatives, Comisión Nacional de Bioética (CONBIOETICA) Mexico, D.F.

Present: Adjunct Professor, University at Buffalo, Dept. of Learning and Instruction, Science and the Public Masters Program.

Present: Senior Fellow, Center for Inquiry - Transnational, Amherst, NY.

Present: Education Director, Center for Inquiry, Amherst, NY.

2008-2015: Associate Professor of Philosophy (tenured), Department of Philosophy, Faculty of Technology, Policy and Management, Delft University of Technology

2008-2015: Senior Research Fellow of the 3TU Centre for Ethics and Technology

May 2008: Visiting Professor, University of Health Sciences, Antigua

Sept 2003-Sept 2008: Research Asst. Prof., SUNY at Buffalo Dept. of Philosophy; Adjunct Asst. Prof., Learning and Instruction; Adjunct Instructor, Interdisciplinary Degree Programs; Coordinator, Graduate Research Ethics.

Fall 2006-2007: Yale University, Donaghue Initiative Visiting Scholar in Research Ethics "Individual and Collective Rights in Genomic Data"

Fall. 2005: Adjunct Lecturer, Dept. of Philosophy, SUNY Buffalo State College

1998-2000 Lecturer, SUNY Buffalo School of Law, Intellectual Property & Research and Writing.

Spr. 1998 Senior Research Fellow, on the Project "Software and Intellectual Property: A Pilot Investigation in Legal Ontology" at SUNY Buffalo.

Fall 1997 Research Fellow, State University of New York at Buffalo, Department of Philosophy.

Business/Technical:

2000 – 2001 Ontologist, Senior Product Manager and Information /Data Architect for Bowstreet, Inc., a software development company in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

2003-2008 Executive Director/Executive Committee, Council for Secular Humanism/Center for Inquiry, Transnational

Writings

Under Consideration/Works in Progress:

“Open X as VSD-Ready Technology” with Philip Serracino Inglott (submitted, under review)

"Intellectual Property and the Singularity" (in review)

Books:

2015 Who Owns You, 2d Edition (revised and expanded) (UK: Wiley) forthcoming.

2012 Breaking Bad and Philosophy, with Robert Arp, (ed.) Popular Culture and Philosophy series, (Chicago: Open Court).

2011 Innovation and Nanotechnology: Converging Technologies and the End of Intellectual Property, (UK: Bloomsbury Academic).

Editorial Reviews

2009 Who Owns You? The Corporate Gold Rush to Patent Your Genes. (UK: Wiley-Blackwell).

Review, Steven Poole, non-fiction choice, The Guardian, Oct., 17, 2009; Review, C.H. Blake, Choice Reviews Online, Dec 2009; Review, by Molly C. Kottemann, in Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine, Dec 2009, Vol 82, No. 4, pp. 233-34; Review Kristien Hens, Center for Biomedical Ethics and Law, in Ethical Perspectives Vol 17, Issue 1, p. 124, March 2010; Review, Daniel Puente-Rodríguez, in Asian Biotechnology and Development Review Vol. 13, Issue 1, March, 2011;Review, Randall Mayes, Journal of Evolution and Technology, Dec. 20, 2009, Vol. 20, Issue 2;Review, by Christian Jongerneel, in De Ingenieur, 21 Augustus 2009, 12;Review by Cheryl Lajos in The Librarian's Review of Books; Review by John Portnow, in Journal of High Technology Law, 2009-2010;Review by Leo Uzych, J.D., M.P.H, in Metapsychology Online Reviews, Vol.14, Issue15; ; Review by Aaron Fellmeth, in Journal of Bioethical Inquiry 2009.25.10

2007 Science and Ethics: Can Science Help Us Make Wise and Moral Judgments? Co-edited with Paul Kurtz, (Amherst, NY: Prometheus Press)

2003 John Searle's Ideas About Social Reality: Extensions, Criticisms, and Reconstructions, co-edited with Laurence Moss, (Oxford UK: Blackwell)

Review, by Elizabeth McCardell, in Metapsychology Online Reviews, Mar 17th 2004 (Volume 8, Issue 12)

2002 Reboot World, (New York: Writer’s Club Press) (fiction)

2000 The Ontology of Cyberspace, (Chicago: Open Court).

Review, by Rita F. Lin, in Harvard Journal of Law and Technology Vol. 14, No. 1 (2000), pp.335-344; Review, by Thomas V. Finnerty, in Journal of High Technology Law (2005); Review, by Christopher C. Robinson, "Democracy in Cyberia," in Theory and Event Vol 5, Issue 3; Review, by Arthur L. Morin, Resource Center for Cyberculture Studies (2002); Review "Children of the Revolution: The Developing Genre of Cyberlaw Commentary" by Terence P. Ross in 4 Green Bag 2d, p.453 et seq. (2001); Citations, Google Scholar

1991 Shadow Boxing (unpublished novella)

Journal Articles and Reports:

Refereed:

2014 “Human Research Ethics Committees in Technical Universities” with Willem-Paul Brinkman and Sylvia Pont, in Journal of Empirical Research on Human Research Ethics, Vol. 9, Issue 3 pp.67-71.

2014 “Principals, Agents and the Intersection between Scientists and Policy-Makers: Reflections on the H5N1 Controversy” with Keelie Murdock in Frontiers, Public Health- Infectious Diseases special issue on Dual-use life science research and biosecurity in the 21st Century: Social, Technical, Policy, and Ethical Challenges, editor: Kathleen Vogel. Vol. 2 DOI: 10.3389/fpubh.2014.00109.

2014 "Human Participants in Engineering Research: Notes from a fledgling ethics committee” with Willem-Paul Brinkman and Sylvia Pont in Science and Engineering Ethics Online First, DOI 10.1007/s11948-014-9568-2

2014 “Beyond Paper” with Barry Smith, in The Monist Vol. 98, Issue 2, pp. 222-235.

2013 "Coase and Copyright" with Floris Kreiken in Illinois Journal of Law, Technology, and Policy, pp. 1-44.

2012 “The Open Source Society and its Enemies” with Floris Kreiken in The Humanities and Technology Review, Vol. 31, pp. 25-49.

2012 “Non-Proliferation Regimes: Immoral and Risky” with Katerina Stankova in International Journal on World Peace, Vol. 29, pp. 63-83.

2011 "Things in Themselves: Redefining Intellectual Property in the Nano-Age" in Journal of Information Ethics, Vol. 21, No. 1 (Spring), pp. 12-27.

2010 "Back to Basics: How Technology and the Open Source Movement Can Save Science" in Social Epistemology: A Journal of Knowledge, Culture and Policy, Vol. 24, Issue 3, 2010, Pages 181 – 190

2010 "Authorship and Artifacts: remaking IP law for future objects" in The Monist, Vol. 93, Issue 3, July. pp. 481-492.

2010 "Peter Hare on The Problem of Evil" in Transactions of the Charles S. Peirce Society Symposium dedicated to Peter Hare, Vol. 46, No. 1 (Winter), pp.53-59.

2009 "Let's Get Small: An introduction to transitional issues in nanotech and intellectual property" in Nanoethics, Vol 3, No. 2, pp. 157-166. Open Access DOI citation: 10.1007/s11569-009-0068-9

2009 "On Genies and Bottles: Scientists' Moral Responsibility and Dangerous Technology R&D" in Science and Engineering Ethics. Vol. 16, No. 1, pp. 119-133 (2010 -- in print) Online first/Open Access DOI citation: 10.1007/s11948-009-9158-x

2009 "Dealing With Socially Constructed Concepts in an Ontology" letter to editor, Journal of Empirical Research on Human Research Ethics,, Vol 4, Issue 2, June, pp.75-76.

2009 "Creating a Controlled Vocabulary for the Ethics of Human Research: Towards a Biomedical Ethics Ontology" with Robert Arp, Jennifer Fostel, and Barry Smith in Journal of Empirical Research on Human Research Ethics, Vol. 4, Issue 1, March, pp 43-58.

2007 "Robots Bowling Alone: Evolving Post-Technological Humans" in SCRIPT-ed: A Journal of Law and Technology, Vol 4, Issue 4, pp 462-67.

2007 "The Ethics of Genetic Engineering," Policy "White" Paper, Center for Inquiry, Transnational. Published August 28, 2007.

2007 "Individual and Collective Rights in Genomic Data: Preliminary Questions" in Journal of Evolution and Technology, Vol. 16 Issue 1, June, pgs 151-159.

2007 "Ethics and Ontology: A New Synthesis," Metaphysica: An International Journal of Metaphysics and Ontology, Vol. 8, No. 2, October, pp. 20-27.

2006 "The Mystery of Intellectual Capital: A Prospectus," SCRIPT-ed: A Journal of Law and Technology, Vol. 3, Issue 2, June, pp. 140-145.

2003 "Libri e atre macchine: artificio ed espressione" (Books and Other Machines) Sistemi Inteligenti Numero 3, Dicembre, pp. 429-440

2003 “Introduction to the Special Issue on John Searle’s The Construction of Social Reality: The Science of Society” American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Vol 62, No. 1.

2000 "An Emerging Ontology of Jurisdiction in Cyberspace," in Ethics and Information Technology, Vol 2, No. 2.

1999 "Introduction to Applied Ontology," in The American Journal of Economics and Sociology, April, Vol. 58, No. 2, pp 217-221.

Popular and Invited (a selected sample):

2013 Why The Time Was Right for Breaking Bad Guy Walter White in The Conversation, Sept. 29.

2013 Is Walter White One of TV's Truly Evil Characters? in BBC News Magazine, Sept. 27.

2010 "Naturally-Occurring Genes and the Commons-by-Necessity," in GeneWatch Magazine Vol. 23, Issue 5.

2010 "Humanist 'Leadership' and Me," Free Inquiry, Oct-Nov, pp. 34-36.

2009 "Designer Moods: The Ethics of Neurochemical Enhancement" in Free Inquiry, Aug-Sept, pp. 26-27.

2009 "Why I Believe Gene Patenting is Wrong, Even Though it is Legal" in Institute for Ethics in Emerging Technologies blog, Aug 16.

2008 "An Outline for the Legal Ontology of Personhood: The Transbeman Example" in Journal of Personal Cyberconsciousness, Vol 3, Issue 1.

2007 "Spiritual but not Religious" in Secular Humanist Bulletin, Vol. 23, No. 4.

2007 "The End of Faith in Politics" in Free Inquiry, Vol. 27, Issue 2, p. 16-17.

2007 "The Immorality of Religious Ethics" in Secular Humanist Bulletin, Vol. 23, No. 3.

2007 "3 Billion Little Pieces: How Much of You do You Own?" SciTech Lawyer, Vol. 3, No. 4.

2006 "Is There a God? Go Ask Alice" in Free Inquiry Vol. 26, No. 6., pp. 14-15.

2006 "Science Ain't an Exact Science: Public Perception of Science After the Stem-Cell Fraud," Skeptical Inquirer, Vol. 30, No. 4, pp. 44-50.

2006 "Beware the Pitfalls of Belief Systems" in Secular Humanist Bulletin, Vol. 22, No. 3.

2006 "Learning (how) to Behave: Commandments vs. Principles" in Secular Humanist Bulletin, Vol. 22, No. 2.

2006 "New Threats to Academic Freedom" in Free Inquiry, Vol. 26, No. 5, pp. 14-15.

2006 “The Thin Edge of the Wedge: Intelligent Design after Dover,” Free Inquiry, Vol 26, No. 3, pp. 32-33.

2006 “The Ethics of Investigation,” Skeptical Inquirer, Vol 30, No.1, January-February, pp. 45-47.

2005 "The United States is not a Christian Nation" in Secular Humanist Bulletin, Vol 21, No. 2.

2005 "Beyond Gods: Secular Humanism's Future" in Secular Humanist Bulletin, Vol. 21, No. 1.

2005 “Great Minds: John Stuart Mill,” Free Inquiry, Vol 25, No.6, December-January, pp. 47-49.

2004 "The Law and Secular Humanism" in Secular Humanist Bulletin, Vol. 19, No. 4.

2004 "On the Frontlines of The Culture Wars," Ethical Record (London) Vol 109, No. 4, p.3.

1996 "The Ontology of Cyberspace: Preliminary Questions and Comments," State University of New York at Buffalo, Department of Computer Science - Technical Report 95-9.

Book Chapters:

2015 “ICT's Architecture of Freedom” with Philip Serracino Inglott for Freedom and Property of Information: The Philosophy of Law Meets the Philosophy of Technology, Mireille Hildebrandt and Bibi van de Berg, editors, (Oxon, UK: Taylor & Francis). forthcoming

2014 "In Art We Trust" for Trust me, I'm an Artist: Toward an Ethics of Art and Science Collaboration, Anna Dumitriu and Bobbie Farsides, eds. (UK: Blurb,), pp. 71-77.

2014 "Synthetic Biology and IP" in Synbio and Human Health: a challenge to the current IP framework? Editors: Carlos María Romeo Casabona & Iñigo de Miguel Beriain, (NL: Springer) pp. 45-54.

2013 "Respect my Religiosi-tah: South Park and Blasphemy" in The Ultimate South Park and Philosophy: Respect my Philosiphah! Robert Arp, Kevin Decker, and William Irwin, eds. (UK: Wiley-Blackwell) pp. 97-107.

2013 "Medical Privacy in the Age of Genomics" in Medical Ethics, 2d Ed. ed. Michael Boylan (London, UK: Wiley-Blackwell) pp. 90-98.

2013 "Applying Intellectual Property to DNA and Life" in Contemporary Debates in Bioethics Arthur Caplan and Robert Arp, eds. (UK: Wiley-Blackwell) pp. 152-160.

2013 "'It's Existential': Negative Space and Nothingness in The Ice Storm" in The Philosophy of Ang Lee, Barkman, Adam, Robert Arp and James McRae, ed. (Lexington, KT: University Press of Kentucky)pp.243-250.

2012 "A Question of Authorship" Foreword to A Question Mark Above the Sun by Kent Johnson (Buffalo, NY: Starcherone Books). pp. xvii - xxiii.

2012 "Some Ethical Considerations in Astronomy Research and Practice" in Organizations, People and Strategies in Astronomy – Volume 1 (OPSA I), Ed. A. Heck, (Venngeist: Duttlenheim) (ISBN 978-2-9542677-0-8)pp.265-277

2011 Luc Schneider, Mathias Brochhausen, and David Koepsell "On Some Best Practices in Large-Scale Ontology Development: The Chronious Ontology Suite as a Case Study" in Formal Ontology Meets Industry 5th International Workshop Proceedings, IOS Press, pp. 28-38.

2011 “International Law and Legal Positivism”, in Sam Muller, Stavros Zouridis, Morly Frishman and Laura Kistemaker (eds.), Law of the Future and the Future of Law, Torkel Opsahl Academic, pp. 375-384.

2010 “Developing a Master's Degree Program in Science and the Public” in Improving Science Spirits and Building a Harmonious Society, Paul Kurtz and F. Ren, (eds.) (Chinese Science and Technology Press), pp. 84-93.

2010 "Judeo-Christian Values do not Motivate People to Behave Ethically" in Ethics (Opposing Viewpoints), Roman Espejo (ed.) (Greenhaven Press) pp. 78-87.

2009 "Genetic Engineering is Not Unethical" in Genetic Engineering (Opposing Viewpoints), David M. Haugen and Susan Musser (eds.) (Greenhaven Press) pp. 79-93.

2009 "Are Ethical War-Bots Possible?" in Transformers and Philosophy, John Shook and Liz Stillwaggon (eds.) (Chicago: Open Court) pp. 207-218.

2008 "Gaius Baltar and the Transhuman Temptation" in Battlestar Galactica and Philosophy, Jason Eberl, (ed.) (Oxford UK: Blackwell).

2008 "From Guano Islands to the Moon: Institutionalized Squatting and Property Rights," in The Mystery of Capital and the New Philosophy of Social Reality, Mark, Smith and Erlich (eds.) (Chicago: Open Court).

2007 "Carl Menger and Exact Theory in the Social Sciences" in Science and Ethics: Can Science Help Us Make Wise and Moral Judgments? Co-edited with Paul Kurtz, (Amherst, NY: Prometheus Press).

2007 "The Practice of Humanism in Marriage and Family Counseling" with D. Mercurio-Riley, in The Role of Religion in Marriage and Family Counseling (New York: NY: Taylor & Francis)

2007 "They Satirized My Prophet... Those Bastards!: South Park and Blasphemy," in South Park and Philosophy, Robert Arp (ed.) (Oxford UK: Blackwell)

2007 "Unbelief and the Law" (3000 words), "John Stuart Mill" (1500 words) The New Encyclopedia of Unbelief, Thomas Flynn (ed.) (Amherst NY, Prometheus).

2006 "Linking the Gene Ontology and Social Ontology: A Prolegomena to an Ontology of Personhood," in Proceedings of FOIS 2006, Brandon Bennett (ed.) (Amsterdam: IOS Press) 

2006 “Poker in Cyberspace: Is it Bluffing When No One Sees You Blink?” in Philosophy and Poker, Eric Bronson (ed.)(Open Court: Chicago)

1997 "Protection of Minority Shareholders: U.S. Report" with Catherine Habermehl, in Protection of Minority Shareholders, Matthias Stecher, (ed.), (The Hague: Kluwer).

Guest Editor:

2009 "The Ethics of Neurochemical Enhacement" special section, Free Inquiry, Vol 29, No. 5., pp. 26-40.

2003 "Special Issue on the Social Philosophy of John Searle," in The American Journal of Economics and Sociology.

1999 "Special Issue on Applied Ontology," in The American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Vol. 58, No.2 pp. 217-356

Reviews:

2011 Book Review: Jonathan Band and Masanobu Katoh, Interfaces on Trial 2.0 in Studies in Ethics, Law, and Technology (forthcoming).

2010 Book Review: Luigi Palombi, Gene Cartels - Biotech Patents in the Age of Free Trade in Script-ed, A Journal of Law and Technology, Vol. 7, Issue 1.

2008 Book Review: Daniel Greenberg, "Science for Sale: The Perils, Rewards, and Delusions of Campus Capitalism", in New England Journal of Medicine, Vol. 358, No. 15, April 10.

2006 Book Review: Barry Seidman and Neil Murphy, Toward a New Political Humanism, Free Inquiry, Vol. 26, No. 2 (Feb-Mar.), p. 63.

1998 Book Review: Brian Cantwell Smith, On the Origin of Objects, Philosophical Psychology, Vol. 11, No. 3 (September 1998)

1997 Book Review: Peter Ludlow, High Noon on the Electronic Frontier, Minds and Machines, Vol. 7, Issue 3 (Fall).

Teaching Experience

Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) :

    May 2014 Bioethical Issues in Genomics, graduate seminar

Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands:

    Sept. 2008-Present: Ethics and Engineering - chemical engineering, applied physics, aerospace, biotechnology (Masters level); Scientific Integrity (PhD); Ethical and Legal issues in ICT (Bachelors); Law and Morality, (PhD seminar)

University of Health Sciences, Antigua:

    May 2008 Medical Jurisprudence

Yale University 2006-2007:

    Reading Group "Alienation and Post-Technological Man" (Coordinator)

State University of New York at Buffalo, School of Law:

    1998-2000 Legal Research & Writing and Intellectual Property

State University of New York at Buffalo, Department of Philosophy:

Spring 2006, 2008 SSC435, Law and Technology

    PHI 640, Graduate Research Ethics, Director

    PHI 640K, Informatics Recitation, Research Ethics

Fall 2005, 2007, Spring 2006, 2008 SSC 221, Writing in the Law

Spring 2004, 2005 PHI 339, Philosophy of Law

    GSC 640, Research Ethics (with Dr. David Triggle)

Fall 2003, 2004 PHI 340, Law and Responsibility

Fall 2003 PHI 239, Law and Morality

1993, 1994, 2000 PHI 115, Critical Thinking

1994, 1995, 1998 PHI 337, Social and Ethical Values in Medicine

Fall 1997: PHI 531, Topics in Ontology, co-taught with Barry Smith and Leonardo Zaibert

SUNY Buffalo State College

    Fall 2005 PHI 204, Philosophy of Religion

Thesis Supervision

2009-2010: Hu Mingyan, PhD Candidate, Tsinghua University, "Nanotechnology and Ethics", one year visitation at TU Delft.

2009-2010: Philip Serracino Inglott, Twente University, "Expressions and Embeddings of Deliberative Democracy in Mutual Benefit Digital Goods" Masters Thesis.

2010 - Present: Floris Kreiken, Delft University of Technology, "Rights, Information, and Expression: Natural and State Monopolies, and Public Values in Information Infrastructures," PhD Project (funded by Next Generation Infrastructures Foundation).

Guest Lectures/Presentations

2014 "Principles and Principals: the H5N1 Case" 12th World Bioethics Congress, Mexico City, June 27.

2014 Chair, Plenary Session, Bioethics and Public Policy, 12th World Bioethics Congress, Mexico City, June 27.

2014 "Genes and Justice: New Developments" at UNAM, Instituto de Filosoficas. Mexico City, June 18.

2013 “Monsanto vs. Farmer Bowman,” CONABIO, Mexico City, Aug 22.

2013 “Bioethics and Emerging Technologies,” CONBIOETICA Bioethics Symposium, INMEGEN, Mexico City, Aug 20.

2013 “Intellectual Property, Genes, and the Commons,” Colegio de Bioetica, UNAM, Mexico City, Aug 5.

2013 “Intellectual Property, Genes, and the Commons,” CONBIOETICA, National Institute for Bioethics, Mexico City, July 18.

2013 “Intellectual Property, Genes, and the Commons,” INMEGEN, National Institute for Medical Genomics, Mexico City, June 28.

2013 “Intellectual Property, Genes, and the Commons,” CONABIO, National Commission for Knowledge and Use of Biodiversity, Mexico City, June 20.

2013 “Justice as Validity in Adolf Reinach's Apriori Foundations of the Civil Law” North American Society for Early Phenomenology, Describing and Exploring Early Phenomenology conference, London, Ontario, Canada, June 12.

2013 “Intellectual Property, Genes, and the Commons” UACM, Laboratorio Philosophico, UACM, Mexico City, Mexico, June 5.

2013 “Internet Freedom, Copyright and Privacy Philosophy of Law Meets Philosophy of Technology” Philosophers’ Reading Panel, Jan 25, Brussels, Belgium.

2012 "Security: whose responsibility?" at the Centre for Advanced Security Theory, University of Copenhagen, Oct 22.

2012 "A bulwark at the border of science and technology in the age of dual use" Biennial Conference of the European Association for the Study of Science and Technology (EASST), Copenhagen Business School, Frederiksberg, Denmark, Oct. 20.

2012 "Nature, Genes, and the Commons" Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden, Sept. 27.

2012 “Synthetic Biology and the Logic of Open Source,” SYBHEL Workshop, NWO, Den Haag, Feb 6.

2011 "Trust Me, I'm an Artist: Mutate or Die" ethics panel, Trust Me I’m an Artist: Towards an Ethics of Art/Science Collaboration” is led by artist Anna Dumitriu in collaboration with Professor Bobbie Farsides (Chair of Ethics, Brighton and Sussex Medical School) in collaboration with the Waag Society and The University of Leiden, De Waag, Amsterdam, Dec. 10.

2011 "Ethics and Biosecurity" at GREIB 3d International Seminar on Biosecurity and the Law, Granada University School of Law, Oct. 27-28.

2011 Just War Theory and Practice, Workshop, The Hague, NL. Principal organizer. Sept 26-28.

2011 Second workshop, SYBHEL (Synthetic Biology for Human Health: Ethics and Law.), Bristol, UK, June 27-28.

2011 "International Law and Legal Positivism," The Law of the Future Conference, Hague Institute for International Law, The Hague, NL, June 23-24.

2011 "Non-proliferation regimes: unethical and risky" Society for Philosophy and Technology, Denton, TX May 26-29.

2011 "The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly: moral emotions in bioethics" Moral Emotions and Intuitions Conference, The Hague, May 25.

2011 "The Open Source Society and its Enemies," Florida Atlantic University, Philosophy Club, Jan. 20.

2010 "Gene Patents: Science and Technology after Myriad" Biotechnological Engineering Student Association of the National Polytechnic Institute, 2nd Biotechnology Forum, Nov. 10 (via video).

2010 "Teaching Biosecurity Through Basic Ethical Principles," Preparing for Social responsibility, International Workshop, Delft, NL, Oct. 13-25.

2010 "Law of the Future: Scenario Building Workshop" invited participant, The Hague, Netherlands, Sept. 3.

2010 "Report for the EU: Work Package One," Synth-Ethics, 3d Consortium Meeting, Padova, Italy. Aug 30.

2010 "Abstract Technical Artifacts? Resolving Confusion about Ideas, Ex[pressions, Types, and Tokens," The First Dutch-German Workshop on CHallenges for the Philosophy of Technology in the 21st Century, TU-Berlin, Germany, Aug. 26-27.

2010 "Gene Patents: Moving Beyond the Myriad Fallout," The Open Science Summit, Berkeley, CA July 29-31. (Click here for video, beginning at 27 min. mark)

2010 "Towards an Ontology of Biomedical Ethics," International Workshop on Bio-Ontologies, Institute for Formal Ontology and Medical Information Science (IFOMIS), Saarland University, Saarbrucken, Germany. June 28-29.

2010 "The HIF - Does it Ignore Root Injustices?" Increasing Health, Reducing Poverty - The Ethics of Global Institutional Reform The Hague, NL. May 18.

2010 "The Mystery of Intellectual Capital" NWO-MVI valorisation workshop (co-organizer, and speaker). Delft, NL. May 12.

2009 "Revising Intellectual Property: Liberating Intellectual Capital," Innovation, Sustainability, and Development: A New Manifesto, The Hague, NL, Nov. 24

2009 "Research Ethics Education and Biosecurity/Safety," International Working Group - Landau Network-Centro Volta, Workshop and Roundtable on Biosecurity, Biosafety and Dual Use Risks: Trends, Challenges and Innovative Solutions. Como, Italy, Nov. 13-14.

2009 "On Patents and Innovation," Cardozo Law School, Intellectual Property Society, invited lecture, Oct. 26.

2009 "The Ethical Case Against Intellectual Property," Cardozo Law School, Intellectual Property Society, invited lecture, Oct. 21.

2009 COST Foresight 2030 - Living the Digital Revolution, invited workshop, Oct. 7-9.

2009 "Synthetic Biology: Literature study -- ethical issues" SynthEthics Expert Workshop, Oct. 2-3.

2009 "The Open Source Society and its Enemies," Humanities and Technology Association 33d annual conference -- Democracy, Technology, and Citizenship, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, Sept. 25.

2009 "Nanotechnology: touching the unseen world," British Science Festival, Guildford, UK, Sept. 5.

2009 "A Study in Applied Ethics: The Human Genome as a Commons," IDEA League Summer School, Delft Univ. of Technology, Aug. 17.

2009 "Nature vs. Artifacts: Issues of Ownership and Ethics in Synthetic Biology", Synthetic Biology Panel, Society, Philosophy and Technology Conf., Twente University, July 10.

2009 "Who's on First? Authorship and Ethics" Workshop -- PROMOOD Platform for Ethics and Technology, TU Delft, June 11.

2009 "Things in Themselves: Re-conceiving Classical Idea/Expression Distinctions for the Nano-age", Philosophers' Rally, Twente University, Enschede, NL. May 12-13.

2009 Opponent, Licentiate Thesis: Marion Godman "Philosophical and Empirical Investigations in Nanoethics" KTH - Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden. May 8.

2009 "Some Regulatory Challenges of Synthetic Biology: Intellectual Property and Justice" invited presentation to the European Group on Ethics, Brussels, BE April 22.

2009 "Not Hard or Soft, Just Wares: From Bits to Atoms," 3TU Research Day, Utrecht, NL, April 8.

2009 "Conflicts of Interest: When Academic Science and Industry Collide" Management Trainee Luncheon talk, Delft University of Technology, NL. March 30.

2009 "Who Owns You?" Philosophy Dept. Colloquium, Delft University of Technology, NL. March 30.

2009 "Who Owns You? The Corporate Gold Rush to Patent Your Genes" Univ. of Virginia Law School, Charlottesville, VA. March 13.

2009 "Author Meets Critic: Who Owns You? The Corporate Gold Rush to Patent Your Genes," 18th Annual APPE Conference, Cincinnati, OH. March 6.

2008 "On Genies and Bottles: Scientists' Moral Responsibility and Dangerous R&D," Tilting Perspectives Conference, Tilburg University, NL. Dec 10-11.

2008 "Salami Science: On the Ethics of Publishing as Much As You Can" Workshop -- PROMOOD Platform for Ethics and Technology, TU Delft, Nov. 14.

2008 "Back to Basics: How Technology and the Open Source Movement Can Save Science" Interdisciplines: Scientific Publications 3.0 Conference, C.N.R.S. Institut Nicod, Paris, France, Oct. 1.

2008 "The Genome as a Commons" National Institutes of Health, Bioethics Dept., Jan. 9.

2007 "An Outline for the Legal Ontology of Personhood: The Transbeman Example" Terasem's 3rd Annual Colloquium on the Law of Transbeman Persons, Melbourne, FL Dec. 10.

2007 "Some Conclusions Regarding Rights to Genes" Princeton Bioethics Forum, Princeton University, Princeton NJ, Sept. 24.

2007 "Grounding Bioethics: From Principles to Case Studies," The American Medical Association, Ethics Group, Chicago, IL, August 30.

2007 “Rights to One's Own Genes: The Human Genome as a Commons,” Human Rights for the 21st Century Rights of the Person to Technological Self-Determination, IHEU- Appignani Humanist Center for Bioethics  and Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies, United Nations, NYC May 11-13

2007 "Blasphemy and South Park," Ontario, Canada: Centre for Inquiry- Toronto, University of Guelph, and University of Waterloo, March 30-31

2006 "The Obsolescence of Obsolescence: The Ethics of Life-Extension," Yale University, Perspectives of Aging Working Group, Dec. 13.

2006 "Are there Rights to Your Own Genome?" Yale University, Information Society Project, Nov. 28

2006 "Linking the Gene Ontology with Social Ontology: A Prolegomena to an Ontology of Personhood," Formal Ontology in Information Systems (FOIS 2006), Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Md, Nov 9-12.

2006 "Bioethical Concerns of War-Time Psychiatry," Yale University, Neuroethics Working Group, Oct. 24.

2006 "Reintegrating Technology and Humanity," Yale University, Technology and Ethics Working Group, Sept. 27.

2006 "Who Owns You? Preliminary Issues of Genomic Data Protection," Yale University, Institution for Social and Policy Studies, Bioethics Workshop, Sept. 6.

2006 "Critical Inquiry: Logic, Science, and Metaphysics," Center for Inquiry Summer Institute, July 12-Aug. 12.

2006 "Now What, Confronting Our Power," Harvard Veritas Forum, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass., Feb. 23.

2006 "The Law and Ethics of Privacy in Psychiatric Research" SUNYAB Psychiatry Dept., Grand Rounds, Buffalo, NY, Feb 3.

2006 "The Law and Unbelief," Atlanta Freethought Society, Atlanta, GA, Jan. 8.

2006 "Secular Ethical Alternatives: Moral Apriorism," HUSBAY Lecture, Sarasota, FL, Jan. 4.

2005 "Toward a New Enlightenment," Principal Coordinator/Panel Moderator. Amherst NY, SUNY Buffalo/Center for Inquiry, Oct 27-30.

2005 "Civil Rights and Religious Dissent," Reflections on Rights Enforcement: Comparative Perspectives, University of Saskatchewan, Sept 22-24.

2005 Moscow State University/CFI Summer School. "Critical Thinking," Aug-1-14

2005 Center for Inquiry Summer Institute/SUNY Buffalo Undergraduate Honors, "Naturalist Epistemology: How Do We Know?" June 24-Aug 1.

2005 "Attorney-Client Privilege and New Technologies: Civil Liberties in the Age of Terrorism," Los Angeles Terrorism Early Warning Group (TEW) panel on Legal Access, Santa Monica, CA, June 1-2.

2005 China Lecture Tour "An Agenda for the Future" and "What is Secular Humanism" in Beijing University, and Beijing Normal University, China Research Institute for Science Popularization,, Sichuan Normal University, Wuhan University, Hubei Association of Science and Technology, April 15-29.

2005 "The American Historical Tradition of Humanist Democracy," How Will our Democracy Survive, Miami, Florida, Feb 11-13.

2004 24th World Religions Conference, "Why Religion?", University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, Oct 2.

2004 Belief and Dissent Conference, "The Future of Secular Humanism", Cleveland, Ohio, Sept 25.

2004 Moscow State University, CFI Summer session. Lectured on Naturalism and Critical Thinking, July 25-Aug. 7.

2004 “Carl Menger’s Theory of Value: A Methodology for Ethical Inquiry,” SUNYAB Philosophy Dept. Faculty Colloquium Series, March 11.

2004 “The USA Culture Wars” Skeptics in the Pub, London, UK, March 9.

2004 “The Ontology of Cyberspace,” Tech. Talk, Reuters, London, UK March 9.

2004 “The USA Culture Wars” South Place Ethical Society, London, UK, March 7.

2004 “Is Preemptive War Moral” Foreign Policy Forum, panelist, Center for Inquiry, Amherst, March 3.

2003 Mormon/Humanist Dialogue, Center for Inquiry, Amherst, NY. Oct 9.

2003 “Reinach’s Moral Apriorism,” Center for Inquiry, Summer Institute, July 16.

2003 “How Lawyers Can Benefit from Ontology”, Center for Law and Ontology, Turin University, Turin, Italy. April 23.

2003 “Sovereigns, Squatters and Property Rights: From Guano Islands to the Moon,” The Mystery of Capital, and the Construction of Social Reality, SUNYAB, April 12-15.

2001 “What Commercial Ontologists Do” FOIS Conference, Maine, USA, October 10.

2001 Accounting for Social Objects, Knowledge Technologies 2001, Austin, TX., Mar. 4-7.

2000 Legal Ontology, Social Objects, and the Mereology of Cyberspace, Erasmus Summer School on Social Ontology, Erasmus University, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, July 9-13.

1999 An Emerging Ontology of Jurisdiction in Cyberspace, Ethicomp, Rome, Italy, October 6-8.

1999 Methodology in Legal Ontology, Faculty Workshop, SUNY at Buffalo School of Law, April 2.

1999 The Internet and The Legal Profession: Ethical Considerations of Advertising on the Web, Erie County Bar Association, Amherst, New York, March 6.

1998 A Symposium: An Ontology of Integrated Products The Microsoft/Netscape Browser Wars, The Center for Legal Ontology, Buffalo, New York, November 20.

1998 Software and Intellectual Property: A Pilot Investigation in Applied Ontology - Interim Report The Center for Legal Ontology, Buffalo, New York, September 1.

1998 What is Cyberspace?: Predicates to an Ethical Investigation. The Tangled Web Conference: Ethical Dilemmas of the Internet, Dartmouth College, New Hampshire, August 7-9.

1998 Claims Tools on the Internet, The Buffalo Claims Association, Education Day, May 14.

1998 Co-director, Applied Ontology: A Marvin Farber Conference on Law and Institutions in Society. April 24-25, With Barry Smith.

1997 The Metaphysics of Cyberspace The History of the Concepts of Space, sponsored by Department of Philosophy, Center for Cognitive Science, and the National Center for Geographic Information, State University of New York at Buffalo, April 19.

1996 Computers and the Demise of Intellectual Property Center for Cognitive Science, Philosophy and Cognitive Science (Graduate Student Panel), Buffalo, New York, December 11.

1996 Chair, Graduate Philosophy Association, 4th Annual Graduate Conference.

1995 The Ontology of Cyberspace: Preliminary Questions (Spring), Tri-State Philosophical Association Conference, St. Bonaventure University, Olean, New York,, April 22.

Press

2013 TV Worth Watching "'Bad' Reading: Philosophers Ponder the Big Questions of Walter White,", Aug. 29.

2013 Hollywood Reporter "'Breaking Bad': Philosophers Tackle Heisenberg in Book (Q&A)", Aug. 20.

2013 Philadelphia Inquirer "Weighing Walter White's Goodness vs. Badness", Aug. 12.

2013 BBC Radio 4 - In Business, Gene Patenting, Aug. 8.

2013 Panel discussion on The Forum, KQED, San Francisco affiliate of National Public Radio, "Who Owns Your Genes?",, April 12.

2013 Interview on "Suchthatcast", episode 7, Søraker, J.H. (Producer).

2012 The Harvard Political Review "The Haunting Philosophies of Breaking Bad", by Idrees Kahloon, Oct 25.

2011 The Guardian, Can nanotechnology provide cheaper solar energy?", by Duncan Graham-Rowe, Tuesday, Sept. 20.

2011 RadioWest, "The Book of Mormon", KUER FM 90.1, Salt Lake City, Utah (@ 41 min to end).

2010 Singularityhub.com, "Who Owns You? 20% of the Genes in Your Body are Patented", by Drew Halley, Aug. 11.

2010 "Labyrinth" VPRO, NED Ch.2 TV documentary "DNA Hackers," Apr. 21.

2010 Washington Times, Op-ed with Kenneth Alfano, "A Patent Too Far" , April 1.

2010 The Takeaway, WNYC Radio, "Court Says Company Cannot Patent Human Gene", April 1.

2009 Biopolitical Times, "Battle Over Gene Patents Builds," Oct. 28.

2009 GritTV with Laura Flanders, "Gene Patents Debate" with patent attorney Gene Quinn (starts at 28:50), Oct. 26.

2009 WBAI, NY Public Radio Evening News, with Andrea Sears on "Gene Patenting" (starts at 17:25), Oct. 23.

2009 Leonard Lopate "Under-reported: Gene Patenting", Oct 22.

2009 The Gary Null Show, Gene Patents/Who Owns You? , Oct. 19.

2009 Kelly France, When Patents go Bad - An argument against gene patents in PGx.news.org, June 25.

2009 The Case Against Gene Patents IPwatchdog.com, op-ed, June 13.

2009 Gene Patents Hinder Research and Hurt Patients TU Delta, op-ed, May 26.

2009 How Genes are Like Plutonium (Neither Should Be Patentable) Science Progress, op-ed, April 13.

2009 Lindsay Wagner, Human Genes Should Not Be Patented, Koepsell Says Virginia Law, News and Events, March 17.

2007 "Golden Compass is viewed by some as an attack on Christianity" by Jay Tokasz in Buffalo News, Sec. A, p.1, Dec. 7.

2007 "Granting patents on genes hinders biotech research" article by Sarah C.P. Williams in Yale Medicine Magazine, Books & Ideas section. Autumn 2007.

2007 "Faith & Values: Atheists' Books Intensify Battles in Culture Wars," Atlanta Journal and Constitution, Section E1, June 9.

2006 "Ten Amendments Day" State of Belief, Air America Radio, May 7.

2006 “Ben Franklin: 300th Birthday” AP News, newspaper commentary, Jan 16-18.

2005 “Toward a New Enlightenment,” radio interview, WBFO Morning Edition. Oct 27-28.

2005 "Using the Bible in Jury Deliberations," TV, MSNBC, The Abrams Report, March 29.

2005 "Faith in the Workplace" Radio Interview, Mid-Morning, Minnesota Public Radio, Feb 10.

2004 "The Bully Pulpit" Television interview, Faith Under Fire, PAX - TV Cable network. Dec. 25.

2004 "Christmas and the First Amendment" Television Interview/forum, It's Your Turn, with Kathy Fountain, WTVT 13, Fox, Tampa, Florida, Dec. 20.

2004 "Politics and Religion: HR 235" Radio Interview, The Walsh Forum, WYLL, Oct. 30.

2004 Fox News Channel, Dayside, "Faith in the Workplace," August 24.

2004 Radio Free Europe, Radio Liberty, Russia "Science and Religion" live radio forum for the show "The Christian Point of View", Host Yakov Kurikov August 3.

2004 “'Under God'” in the Pledge” Radio interview, The Chuck Cason Show, 990 AM, Dallas, TX., March 15.

2003 “Piracy and Intellectual Property,” Radio Interview/Forum, Odyssey, Chicago Public Radio, July 23.

Grants/Projects

2010 Principal Investigator/Recipient Rights, Information and Expression: Natural and State Monopoluies, and Public Values in Information Infrastructures," from the Next Generation Infrastructures Foundation and TU Delft - TPM, € 169,170.

2009 Co-Convenor, Synth-Ethics: Ethical and Regulatory Issues Raised by Synthetic Biology, EU funded project under the 7th Framework Programme.

2006 Co-Investigator, Donaghue Initiative, Yale University, Ethical Concerns in War-Time Psychiatry: PTSD and Pre-screening $10,000

1998 SUNY Foundation "Software and Intellectual Property: A Pilot Investigation in Legal Ontology" $10,000 (with Barry Smith)

1990 NYSCA, NCA and LCTV: Documentary "Poemvision" $5000

1989 NYSCA, NCA and LCTV: Documentary "Grassroots" $1000

1988 New York State Council of the Arts, Niagara Council of the Arts, and LCTV: Documentary "Voice of Niagara: Stories of the Rainbow" $1000

Service

2011 to present: Chair, Delft University of Technology, Research Ethics Committee.

2011 to present: Executive Editorial Board Philosophy and Technology, Springer, NL.

2010 to present: reviewer, Science and Engineering Ethics

2010 to present: Advisory Board member, Center for the Study of Innovative Freedom

2009 to present: Reviewer, Second Nature: International Journal of Creative Media

2000 to present: Scientific Board, Buffalo Intellectual Property Journal.

2006 to present: Ethics Board, Lifeboat Foundation.

2008 to present: Reviewer, Ethics and Information Technology

2006 to present: Treasurer, Buffalo International Film Festival

Legal Employment

Admitted to practice in New York State: Fourth Department, Western District of New York, Bankruptcy, Southern District, Second Circuit Court of Appeals, United States Supreme Court

2004-2008: Advisory in-house counsel to Center for Inquiry Transnational, Amherst, New York. Contract, employment and liability issues.

2002-2003 Attorney, Getman & Biryla, LLP. Civil, Commercial, and general litigation, trial practice and appeals.

2001 – 2002 Attorney, Damon & Morey LLP. Commercial and Intellectual Property Litigation.

1997 - 2000 Attorney, Cohen & Lombardo. Litigation of commercial and negligence and copyright cases, Research, writing and argument of appeals to the Fourth Department.

1995 - 1997 Attorney, Altreuter & Habermehl. Litigation of commercial and negligence and copyright cases, Research, writing and argument of appeals to the Fourth Department. Trademark filings.

1992 – 1995 Legal Aide, New York State Attorney General. Researched and wrote motions, memoranda and briefs in habeas corpus, employment discrimination and environmental enforcement actions.

1991 – 1992 Confidential Clerk, New York State Attorney General: Provided trial support for State of New York v. Hooker Chemical, "Love Canal Trial".

References

Available through SUNY Philosophy Department, Yale Bioethics Center