Philosophy, Law and Public Policy
The Tyranny of Opinion: Conformity and the Future of Liberalism, Bloomsbury Academic October 2018
Science Fiction and the Moral Imagination: Visions, Minds, Ethics, Springer 2017
Philosophy's Future: The Problem of Philosophical Progress, co-edited with Damien Broderick, Wiley Blackwell 2017.
The Mystery of Moral Authority, Palgrave Pivot January 2016
Richard Garner, Professor Emeritus at The Ohio State University and author of Beyond Morality, says, "The mystery of moral authority is that we persist in attributing objective and inescapable authority to moral judgements even though there are so many reasons not to do so. The Mystery of Moral Authority is an accessible, up-to-date, thorough, convincing and fair-minded attempt to show that the 'mystery of moral authority' has not been, and most likely will not be, solved. To solve it one would need to explain the source of the allegedly inescapable objective authority that is commonly thought to characterize moral judgements.
"In this book Blackford recommends that we replace the idea of morality as a collection of truths about how we ought to live with the idea that it is a modifiable social technology aimed at finding ways to live in groups. This realization frees us to replace outmoded moral norms with practical ones more appropriate to our present needs and circumstances."
Intelligence Unbound: The Future of Uploaded and Machine Minds, co-edited with Damien Broderick, Wiley-Blackwell August 2014.
This book is a state-of-the-art collection on machine intelligence, covering many angles and opinions. Contributors include leading philosophers, cognitive scientists and others, including Anders Sandberg, David Chalmers, Randall Koene, Max More, and Natasha Vita-More.
Wendell Wallach says: "These engrossing reflections on the plausibility of advanced AI and uploading inspire a wealth of profound questions about who or what we believe ourselves to be."
David Braddon-Mitchell says: "If humanity survives for thirty years, the topic of this book may be the most important there is. The book is readable, fun, and stuffed with expertise. So read it."
Humanity Enhanced: Genetic Choice and the Challenge for Liberal Democracies, MIT Press January 2014.
Ruth Chadwick , Distinguished Research Professor at Cardiff University, says, "This book provides a refreshing contribution to the debates about enhancement and offers a much-needed analysis of the relationship between emerging technologies and liberal tolerance—or the lack of it—in some well-rehearsed arguments. This is essential reading for anyone interested in not only enhancement but also emerging technologies in general."
Ronald Bailey, author of Liberation Biology: The Scientific and Moral Case of the Biotech Revolution, says, "Blackford brilliantly demolishes the philosophical and ethical confusions of fearful opponents of emerging reproductive and genetic technologies and succinctly explains why it is moral for people to radically increase their healthy lifespans and to enhance their physical, emotional, and intellectual capacities."
50 Great Myths About Atheism, co-authored with Udo Schuklenk, Wiley-Blackwell October 2013.
Richard Dawkins says, "It has been my lot to have encountered all but three of the 50 Great Myths about Atheism listed by Blackford and Schüklenk, most of them many times. It is useful to have them all listed in one book – and so readably and authoritatively refuted. The long final chapter treats theological arguments with more respect than I would have bothered with, but the refutation is all the more convincing for that. The whole book builds inexorably to its conclusion: the Reasonableness of Atheism."
Freedom of Religion and the Secular State, Wiley-Blackwell January 2012.
AC Grayling says: "This is a must-read: Blackford has given us a forceful and persuasive book that will have a big impact on the debate it addresses."
In the book, I argue that religious freedom is more than a crude quid pro quo arrangement – "We won’t persecute you if you don’t persecute us." Instead, it goes to the heart of what state power is really for. Do we think it's to give citizens spiritual guidance, or is the state an essentially secular institution? That question lies at the heart of many intransigent hot-button issues that cause so much angst in current societies. What, if anything, should we do about the burqa? Should anti-religious satire be allowed? Should our laws enforce religious notions of morality – as with abortion restrictions, attacks on gay rights, and opposition to stem-cell research? I propose a way ahead that should be acceptable to most religious people, as well as to non-believers.
50 Voices of Disbelief: Why We Are Atheists (co-edited with Udo Schuklenk), Wiley-Blackwell October 2009.
Original essays from contributors including Peter Singer, Joe Haldeman and Maryam Namazie.
See many excellent reviews here, including this one: "By turns witty, serious, engaging and information, it is always human and deeply honest, and immensely rewarding to read." (Times Higher Education Supplement, December 2009)
Fiction
Kong Reborn, iBooks October 2005.
Terminator 2: The New John Connor Chronicles series:
§ Dark Futures (Book One of Terminator 2: The New John Connor Chronicles) iBooks August 2002.
§ An Evil Hour (Book Two of Terminator 2: The New John Connor Chronicles) iBooks May 2003.
§ Times of Trouble (Book Three of Terminator 2: The New John Connor Chronicles) iBooks September 2003.
Urban Fantasies (anthology of original Australian speculative fiction, co-edited with David King), Ebony Books 1985. Authors include Greg Egan, David Brooks and George Turner.
The Tempting of the Witch King (a fantasy novel), Cory & Collins 1983.
The Tyranny of Opinion: Conformity and the Future of Liberalism, Bloomsbury Academic October 2018
Science Fiction and the Moral Imagination: Visions, Minds, Ethics, Springer 2017
Philosophy's Future: The Problem of Philosophical Progress, co-edited with Damien Broderick, Wiley Blackwell 2017.
The Mystery of Moral Authority, Palgrave Pivot January 2016
Richard Garner, Professor Emeritus at The Ohio State University and author of Beyond Morality, says, "The mystery of moral authority is that we persist in attributing objective and inescapable authority to moral judgements even though there are so many reasons not to do so. The Mystery of Moral Authority is an accessible, up-to-date, thorough, convincing and fair-minded attempt to show that the 'mystery of moral authority' has not been, and most likely will not be, solved. To solve it one would need to explain the source of the allegedly inescapable objective authority that is commonly thought to characterize moral judgements.
"In this book Blackford recommends that we replace the idea of morality as a collection of truths about how we ought to live with the idea that it is a modifiable social technology aimed at finding ways to live in groups. This realization frees us to replace outmoded moral norms with practical ones more appropriate to our present needs and circumstances."
Intelligence Unbound: The Future of Uploaded and Machine Minds, co-edited with Damien Broderick, Wiley-Blackwell August 2014.
This book is a state-of-the-art collection on machine intelligence, covering many angles and opinions. Contributors include leading philosophers, cognitive scientists and others, including Anders Sandberg, David Chalmers, Randall Koene, Max More, and Natasha Vita-More.
Wendell Wallach says: "These engrossing reflections on the plausibility of advanced AI and uploading inspire a wealth of profound questions about who or what we believe ourselves to be."
David Braddon-Mitchell says: "If humanity survives for thirty years, the topic of this book may be the most important there is. The book is readable, fun, and stuffed with expertise. So read it."
Humanity Enhanced: Genetic Choice and the Challenge for Liberal Democracies, MIT Press January 2014.
Ruth Chadwick , Distinguished Research Professor at Cardiff University, says, "This book provides a refreshing contribution to the debates about enhancement and offers a much-needed analysis of the relationship between emerging technologies and liberal tolerance—or the lack of it—in some well-rehearsed arguments. This is essential reading for anyone interested in not only enhancement but also emerging technologies in general."
Ronald Bailey, author of Liberation Biology: The Scientific and Moral Case of the Biotech Revolution, says, "Blackford brilliantly demolishes the philosophical and ethical confusions of fearful opponents of emerging reproductive and genetic technologies and succinctly explains why it is moral for people to radically increase their healthy lifespans and to enhance their physical, emotional, and intellectual capacities."
50 Great Myths About Atheism, co-authored with Udo Schuklenk, Wiley-Blackwell October 2013.
Richard Dawkins says, "It has been my lot to have encountered all but three of the 50 Great Myths about Atheism listed by Blackford and Schüklenk, most of them many times. It is useful to have them all listed in one book – and so readably and authoritatively refuted. The long final chapter treats theological arguments with more respect than I would have bothered with, but the refutation is all the more convincing for that. The whole book builds inexorably to its conclusion: the Reasonableness of Atheism."
Freedom of Religion and the Secular State, Wiley-Blackwell January 2012.
AC Grayling says: "This is a must-read: Blackford has given us a forceful and persuasive book that will have a big impact on the debate it addresses."
In the book, I argue that religious freedom is more than a crude quid pro quo arrangement – "We won’t persecute you if you don’t persecute us." Instead, it goes to the heart of what state power is really for. Do we think it's to give citizens spiritual guidance, or is the state an essentially secular institution? That question lies at the heart of many intransigent hot-button issues that cause so much angst in current societies. What, if anything, should we do about the burqa? Should anti-religious satire be allowed? Should our laws enforce religious notions of morality – as with abortion restrictions, attacks on gay rights, and opposition to stem-cell research? I propose a way ahead that should be acceptable to most religious people, as well as to non-believers.
50 Voices of Disbelief: Why We Are Atheists (co-edited with Udo Schuklenk), Wiley-Blackwell October 2009.
Original essays from contributors including Peter Singer, Joe Haldeman and Maryam Namazie.
See many excellent reviews here, including this one: "By turns witty, serious, engaging and information, it is always human and deeply honest, and immensely rewarding to read." (Times Higher Education Supplement, December 2009)
Fiction
Kong Reborn, iBooks October 2005.
Terminator 2: The New John Connor Chronicles series:
§ Dark Futures (Book One of Terminator 2: The New John Connor Chronicles) iBooks August 2002.
§ An Evil Hour (Book Two of Terminator 2: The New John Connor Chronicles) iBooks May 2003.
§ Times of Trouble (Book Three of Terminator 2: The New John Connor Chronicles) iBooks September 2003.
Urban Fantasies (anthology of original Australian speculative fiction, co-edited with David King), Ebony Books 1985. Authors include Greg Egan, David Brooks and George Turner.
The Tempting of the Witch King (a fantasy novel), Cory & Collins 1983.
Literary Criticism
Strange Constellations: A History of Australian Science Fiction (written with Van Ikin and Sean McMullen), Greenwood Press 1999.
“The bibliographies alone make the book a must purchase for any library with serious holdings in either science fiction or Australian literature....Readers interested in nineteenth-century fantastic literature will find Strange Constellations particularly valuable....Strange Constellations is as good a work of literary history as one could wish for....Concise, judicious in its appraisal of the writers under consideration...clearly written.”–Science Fiction Studies.
Hyperdreams: Damien Broderick's Space/Time Fiction (a short monograph, also available on Damien Broderick's unofficial web site), Nimrod Press 1998.
Contrary Modes (proceedings of the academic track of Aussiecon 2, edited with Jenny Blackford, Lucy Sussex and Norman Talbot), Ebony Books 1985.
(Also see Selected Articles and Stories and Full Bibliography for information about my other publications. Some of my published articles (and extracts from my published fiction) are available free here.)
Strange Constellations: A History of Australian Science Fiction (written with Van Ikin and Sean McMullen), Greenwood Press 1999.
“The bibliographies alone make the book a must purchase for any library with serious holdings in either science fiction or Australian literature....Readers interested in nineteenth-century fantastic literature will find Strange Constellations particularly valuable....Strange Constellations is as good a work of literary history as one could wish for....Concise, judicious in its appraisal of the writers under consideration...clearly written.”–Science Fiction Studies.
Hyperdreams: Damien Broderick's Space/Time Fiction (a short monograph, also available on Damien Broderick's unofficial web site), Nimrod Press 1998.
Contrary Modes (proceedings of the academic track of Aussiecon 2, edited with Jenny Blackford, Lucy Sussex and Norman Talbot), Ebony Books 1985.
(Also see Selected Articles and Stories and Full Bibliography for information about my other publications. Some of my published articles (and extracts from my published fiction) are available free here.)