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

David is an author, philosopher, and attorney whose recent research focuses on the nexus of science, technology, ethics and public policy.

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

Present: Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Department of Philosophy, Faculty of Technology, Policy and Management, Delft University of Technology & Senior Research Fellow of the 3TU Centre for Ethics and Technology

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

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.

Sept. 2007-Apr. 2008: Research Scientist, UB Task-Force for Ontology-Based Studies in Psychiatry (Classification of Diseases and Disorders)

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.

Publications

Books:

In progress: American Apostate: The True Story of a Modern Heresy Trial (currently in production as a feature-length documentary)

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

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

2003 Searle on the Institutions of Social Reality, co-edited with Laurence Moss, (Oxford UK: Blackwell)

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

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

Articles:

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

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 2007, 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.

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

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

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

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

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.

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 (peer reviewed):

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:

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:

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

Technology University of Delft, The Netherlands:

    Sept. 2008-Present: Ethics and Technology

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

Guest Lectures/Conference Presentations

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

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

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

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. 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