S. Orestis Palermos, "Cyborg Rights: Extending Cognition, Ethics, and the Law" (Routledge, 2025)
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Hi everyone, this is Marshall Poe. I'm the founder of the New Books Network, and I'm also a historian. I used to be a history professor, and I love maps. So I'm especially happy to tell you that this episode is sponsored by What's Your Map, which was the winner of the best education podcast at the 2025 British Podcast Awards. What's Your Map is hosted by historian and prize-winning author, Professor Jerry Broughton. In each episode, he invites a guest to share. A map close to their heart and unfurl the ideas, inspirations, and stories behind it. I can tell you I've listened and it's fascinating. The podcast is in its sixth series and is enjoyed by audiences around the globe. You can explore all the maps in the podcast at occulehyphenmundi.com while you listen.
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Hello and welcome to New Books and Philosophy, a podcast channel with the New Books Network. I'm Carrie Figtor, Professor of Philosophy at the University of Iowa. I'm co-host of the channel along with Robert Talise and Sarah Tyson. Together, we bring you conversations with philosophers about their new books in a wide range of areas of contemporary philosophical inquiry. Today's interview is with Arestes Palermos, assistant professor of philosophy at the University of Ioannina. His new book, Cyborg Rights Extending Cognition, Ethics, and the Law, is just out from Routledge. Until recently no one could access the detailed contents of your mind directly, the way only you can. This level of protection of our mental data was guaranteed by the way we are built biologically.
and it can no longer be taken for granted. In his new book Palermos considers the ethical and legal implications of the extended mind thesis, the idea that information processing technologies are not merely tools, but are literally parts of our minds. While the thesis remains controversial, there is little doubt that technological devices can push information that coheres in an integrated way with your thoughts. For example, when you Your phone presents photographs of last year's holiday on today's anniversary. Such mind extensions create new vulnerabilities to invasions of mental privacy, freedom of thought, and and protection from personal assault. Palermos articulates these new problems and explores what levels of protection we might adopt in the face of them, up to the point of making it technologically impossible to access or manipulate your extended mental contents.
Let's turn to the interview. Hello Orestes Palermos. Welcome to New Books in Philosophy. Hi. Hello. Thank you very much for having me. Um I'm very interested in talking with you about your book, Cyborg Rights. Um uh very, very current uh topic here, both in terms of philosophy of mind, uh, but also in terms of the effects of the potential, you know, extensions of our mind and the very unique and interesting sorts of of ethical as well. as legal issues that arise, you know, because of these technologies and their integration in our lives. Um so before we get to the actual uh topic or content of the book, um can you say a bit about yourself, you know, how you became a philosopher? Um and and how this book came about.
Sure, of course. I guess my story is similar to most uh academic philosophers. I g I I was quite curious about what they say we're experiencing is why who we are what what what our purpose is supposed to be, you know, these grand philosophical questions as a kid. I was very curious.
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Chapters
6 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–13:13
2
What is the extended‑mind thesis and why does it matter for mental privacy?
13:13–27:05
3
How does the guest’s background and research lead to the book *Cyborg Rights*?
27:05–34:28
4
What kinds of technologies count as cognitive extensions of the mind?
34:28–41:28
5
What new vulnerabilities arise when our thoughts are stored in devices?
41:28–49:28
6
How might the law treat unauthorized access to mental‑extension data as assault?
49:28–57:56
Speakers
2 identifiedMore from New Books in Philosophy
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