from Staying Human in an Engineered Age.


Will we decide that we’ve grown powerful enough? Can we draw a line and say, “this far and no further”?

How do we control the techno-scientific juggernaut before it dehumanizes our species?

Is it possible for us to refuse to do something that we can do?

Must we forever grow in reach and power? Or can we, should we ever, say, “Enough”?

Is it possible that our technological reach is very nearly sufficient now?

Are our lives sufficiently comfortable?

The question of who will be the first clone is, in the course of things, unimportant; the real issue is what will follow. Who will be that last?

Attempting to alter the human body is nothing new, so why not alter the genes? Once the first step has been taken, why not continue down the road?

Why not inject an embryo with the patented genes of a champion?

Future contests won’t celebrate human excellence, but “who’s got the better biotech sponsor?”

Will the ‘average’ human, once ‘improved’, have no more reason to run marathons?

Compare Somatic Gene Therapy to Germline Gene Therapy

Who wants an ugly baby?

Should scientists treat illnesses the patients do not have?

Who would want exact copies of humans?

Human genome has “slightly more” genes than a mustard weed.

Could you genetically engineer higher intelligence?

What do Jacques, Gordie, and Wayne have in common with a pig?