Animal Awareness

Aysha Akhtar, M.D., M.P.H., is a double Board-certified neurologist and preventive medicine/public health specialist and is on a mission! She is demonstrating how there is a mutual benefit to both humans and animals when animals are protected. Dr. Akhtar is the President and CEO of the Center for Contemporary Sciences, which is catalyzing the replacement of unreliable animal testing with more effective human-specific research techniques.  A U.S veteran, she previously served as Deputy Director of the U.S. Army Traumatic Brain Injury Program developing the Army’s brain injury prevention and treatment strategies for soldiers. As a Commander in the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, Dr. Akhtar frequently deployed to assist with national public health emergencies. She is published in peer-reviewed journals including Lancet, Pediatrics, Journal of Public Health Policy and Reviews in the Neurosciences. Aysha is a Fellow of the Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics. She is the author of the two books, Our Symphony With Animals. On Health, Empathy and Our Shared Destinies and Animals and Public Health, which argues for the need for health institutions to include animals as part of the “public” in public health. Aysha is a TEDx speaker. Our host Annika van den Born interviewed Aysha for our podcast series Beyond Human Relations on animal testing and animal rights. (source text: https://ayshaakhtar.com/)

Om Podcasten

Questioning established frameworks. Why do we want robots? What about the ethics of new technologies? What is privacy? What is valuable? What role does intuition play in science? What is knowledge? And how do we obtain knowledge? What is morality? What does ‘evolution’ mean? How do new technologies influence our norms of social interaction? What does science say about religion? How does religion deal with science? What is AI and can we speak of cognitive computers? Can we gather new insights into the world through art? Which role does art play in producing knowledge? What is intelligence? And how should we consider the intelligence of animals and plants? Do animals have emotions? Are we hard-wired beeings? Does the world really change at a faster pace? What do the terms ‘sustainability’ and ‘innovation’ actually mean? What does it mean to be human? What are the consequences of my actions? Asking questions can provide access into gaining insight. In many areas, too few questions are asked, or a subject is merely discussed unilaterally. Future Based wants to organize discussions with experts in their field to ask critical questions. Not to necessarily find straight answers, but to formulate more specific questions, and to foster a deeper understanding of the world we live in. After all, the world is constantly changing. Nevertheless, there is a tendency to forget the importance of reflecting on how the world is changing, and in particular what the consequences of these changes might be. Future Based Podcast addresses issues ranging from the natural sciences and philosophy to art, technology and economics; a different subject will be highlighted in every podcast. We will engage in discussions with academics, field specialists and experiential experts.