The TransHuman Code: Carlos Moreira imagines a human-centered technological future

In this episode of the podcast, I speak with Carlos Moreira, the CEO of WISeKey. We discuss the possibilities for building a human-centered technological future today—and the consequences if we do not. What does a human-centered model for technological production look like? How can we build human rights into our tech? And what needs to change to return human values to tech?

Carlos Moreira is the Founder Chairman CEO of the international cybersecurity firm WISeKey and the author (along with David Fergusson) of The Transhuman Code, a landmark book about ethics and technology. Before founding WISeKey, he served as the United Nations Expert on CyberSecurity and Trust Models. During his 17 years as UN Expert, he became recognized worldwide as an Internet Pioneer and a distinctive authority, thought leader, and entrepreneurial force in today’s digital world where the acquisition and trusted protection of Identity, Trust and Security has become an essential step for citizens and entities across the globe.

Guided by a belief that the Internet needs to be safe and universal and a tool for prosperity, he began developing technologies to protect the Internet and founded WISeKey. He is the founder of SG International Organization for Secure Electronic Transactions IOSET OISTE.org, a founding member of the “Comité de Pilotage Project E-Voting” of the Geneva Government, a Member of the UN Global Compact, and a Member of the World Economic Forum Global Agenda Council—among many other leadership roles. He has previously served as an Adjunct Professor of the Graduate School of Engineering RMIT Australia, and as Head of the Trade Efficiency Lab at the Graduate School of Engineering at RMIT.

In The TransHuman Code, he and his co-author David Fergusson ask, ''Are we building a better future for humanity with the help of magnificent technology, or are we instead building a better future of better technology at the expense of humanity? The book imagines what it would look like to center humanity in the emerging tension between a human-controlled or a machine-controlled world.

This episode was produced by Matt Perry.

Cover art by Desi Aleman.