Presentation: Tara
Beyond
1. What is CRISPR and what does it often produce?
2. What moral imperative does Julian Savulescu say we have?
3. How have efforts to control evolution changed over the last century and a half?
4. What are eutelegenesis and Bokanovsky's Process?
5. What did Matt Ridley say would save us?
6. Who is Ray Kurzweil and what is SU?
7. Who is Raymond McCauley and what did he predict?
8. What is Peter Diamandis's Orwellian vision?
DQ
- Is it bad that CRISPR has received so much attention from science journalists and pundits in popular media?
- Would it be unethical not to use an available AND reliable technology to produce "better" children? How should we understand "better"?176
- Will eugenics become "acceptable and widespread again"? 177
- Is it appropriate for researchers to aim to cure diseased molecules, rather than patients? 179
- What do you think of "procreative beneficence"? 181
- Do you agree that happier, healthier humans are more likely to result from a focus on nurture, not nature? 184
- Is the Singularity near?
- Are medical tricorders coming soon? 190
- Are Singularitarians mostly "confirmed atheists" and "progressive capitalist utopians"? 191
- Are you thrilled and concerned about the future of "enhancement"? 193
- Are you as dispirited by transhumanists as Corey Pein?
Code Breaker (CB) Part 2, CRISPR
- What was Francisco Mojica's really amazing discovery? 74
- What hadn't the microbiologists yet done, when Doudna meet with Jillian Banfield? 80
- How did Martin Jinkek describe RNA? 85
- What's Matt Ridley's point about scientific innovation? 90
- Why is it important to do experiments in vitro? 94
- Why didn't Doudna's move to Genentech work out? 102
- Women in science tend to be what, and with what result? 110-11
- What was a "turnoff to venture capitalists" when Doudna and Rachel Haurwitz were founding their company? 117
- What statement of Emmanuelle Charpentier enticed Doudna to want to work with her? 127-8
- What "made the single-guide system particularly significant"? 135
- What did Charpentier want to do, rather than make gene-editing tools? 140
- What did Doudna say to her competitor Barrangou about withdrawing his and his partner's paper pending publication? 149
Who is Ray Kurzweil and what is SU?
ReplyDeleteRay Kurzweil is an American inventor, futurist, and author known for his work in artificial intelligence. Kurzweil is also famous for his predictions about the future of technology, particularly in AI and the concept of the Singularity. SU refers to Singularity University, an organization co-founded by Ray Kurzweil and Peter Diamandis. SU is an educational and business incubator that focuses on leveraging exponential technologies to solve global challenges. It aims to prepare individuals and businesses for the rapid technological changes expected in the coming decades.
1. What is CRISPR and what does it often produce?
ReplyDeleteCRISPR is a gene-editing technology that allows scientists to precisely modify DNA in living organisms. CRISPR often produces gene knockouts and corrections, GMO's, and models for medical research.
Is the Singularity near?
ReplyDeleteI think the Singularity is in the near future but not necessarily as close as we think. Although it may appear AI is coming close to surpassing human intelligence, the human brain is still a unique and complex organ that I don't think can ever be replicated by AI.
5. What did Matt Ridley say would save us?
ReplyDeleteMatt Ridley incorrectly asserted that selfishness would save the human race from eugenic abuse. His argument is that "free market environment with real individual choice" would create a eugenics free from the abuses that were associated with it for being administered by the government. Ridley fails to recognize that "real individual choice" is staunchly influenced by the same social forces as government. While the move from "government mandated" to "socially influenced" reduces the amount of social control, it would be naive to think the pressure created from society wouldn't create a new form of individually chosen eugenics.
Do you agree that happier, healthier humans are more likely to result from a focus on nurture, not nature?
ReplyDeleteWhile I do not think the pursuit of trying to control nature to make a happier life should be abandoned, I do agree that our main focus should be on nurture. We have much more control over the nurture. Also, I don't believe there is any way to completely rid a capitalistic society of all poverty. This creates a moral imperative to create socialistic programs that remedy poverty.
Would it be unethical not to use an available AND reliable technology to produce "better" children? How should we understand "better"?
ReplyDeleteI do think there is a moral imperative to use this technology to alleviate physical suffering. Cripsr should be restricted from use on maladies that fixing society could fix, such as down syndrome and autism. However, it would be wrong to allow diseases that cause debilitating physical pain to continue without trying to stop them.
Do you agree that happier, healthier humans are more likely to result from a focus on nurture, not nature?
ReplyDeleteYeah, I think that once we live in a society where people's basics needs are met, and everyone has more or less equal access to opportunities, we'll have improved happiness and health because we have nurtured our fellow humans. I think this is much more important of a focus than gene-editing, which could still have a place in improving people's lives via splicing out something like dementia for example.
Are you thrilled and concerned about the future of "enhancement"?
ReplyDeleteI'm thrilled and concerned but probably more concerned because genetic alteration in the wrong hands has the potential to be absolutely devastating. But I like the idea of certain transhumanist adaptations as long as they serve to improve the general wellness of the subject. Sex change operations I think are a good example of bodily modification that is good, because it allows people to feel more comfortable in their bodies and in society. And it's good when people feel good about themselves and their place in the world so we should encourage it.
Will eugenics become "acceptable and widespread again"?
ReplyDeleteThere is growing fascist/nationalist/racial essentialist thought in our country that I think lends itself to a potential eugenics movement. I think the vast majority of people in this country are disgusted by it, but I think it's possible that some instances of forced sterilization could happen and go unpunished, if we were in the right political environment. If we're there yet or not is hard to say but I don't think it's unthinkable.
1. Francisco Mojica's amazing discovery was that he discovered that CRISPR is bacteria's immune system for viruses.
ReplyDeleteThis was interesting to learn! To be honest, when I hear CRISPR, I always think about gene editing since that what was taught to me about CRISPR (not only in this class but my biology classes.) Therefore, it's interesting to know that CRISPR's function was first discovered as bacterial immunity and later led to gene editing.
2. Microbiologists haven't yet isolated the molecular components of the CRISPR system, tested them in a lab setting and figured out their structures.
I'm kind of surprised that microbiologists didn't study CRISPR's molecular components right after Mojica's discovery especially since the journals had doubts about his discovery. I feel like that would be the next step.
3. Martin Jinkek described RNA as "a versatile molecule-it can do catalysis, it can fold into 3D structures" and also said "At the same time, it's a carrier of information. It's an all-rounder in the world of biomolecules!"
Jinkek is obviously an RNA fan and I think that having someone as passionate as him on the CRISPR team was smart decision on Doudna's part.
2. Julian Savulescu says we have a moral imperative to proceed with editing our genomes as fast as our sequencers can carry us, believing that it would be unethical to have the technology to produce better children and not use it. I wish it was that simple, but there are a lot more issues to be discussed regarding how genome editing would be consolidated throughout society and properly safeguarded.
ReplyDelete4. Eutelegenesis is the name given by Hermann Miller to describe reproduction being catalyzed in the laboratory, removing sex from the process. Bokanovsky's Process is human cloning in test-tubes as discussed in Brave New World. I thoroughly recommend reading Brave New World. It’s a really great fictional exploration of the consequences of genetic editing.
7. Raymond McCauley is a big, Texas-born biotech scientist who predicted that the prevention of childhood disease would open the backdoor to widespread human genetic modification. Although, a concern that both he and I share is the eventual switch from therapeutic genetic engineering to enhancement. Once we start messing with genetic enhancement, I start to feel apprehensive.