Navigating the Future in a Sea of Crispr Uncertainty
Humanity's toolkit for altering the world we live in now includes CRISPR. Through an evolutionary process, bacteria acquired a way to protect themselves from an invading virus, making their immediate future more secure. In human hands, this powerful genome-editing tool offers the potential to i...
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
|
| Interlibrary Loan: | Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany) |
| Published: |
[2020]
|
| In: |
Zygon
Year: 2020, Volume: 55, Issue: 2, Pages: 444-458 |
| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
CRISP/Cas method
/ Science ethics
/ Science policy
/ Unitarian Universalist Association
|
| IxTheo Classification: | AB Philosophy of religion; criticism of religion; atheism NCH Medical ethics NCJ Ethics of science VA Philosophy |
| Further subjects: | B
Bioengineering
B CRISPR B Biomedicine B germline B gene editing |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (Verlag) Volltext (doi) |
| Summary: | Humanity's toolkit for altering the world we live in now includes CRISPR. Through an evolutionary process, bacteria acquired a way to protect themselves from an invading virus, making their immediate future more secure. In human hands, this powerful genome-editing tool offers the potential to impact, at a breathtaking rate, not only our own evolutionary future, but the future of other life on this planet. Ethical concerns about altering genomes are not new, but the birth of two CRISPR gene-edited babies last year created a renewed urgency around navigating the future and the lack of an agreed-upon map to guide us is distressing. The goal of this article is not to provide that map but to suggest two essential questions, drawn from the context of events surrounding CRISPR to date, that should guide its drafting—“Who do we trust?” and “When is it time to act?”—and to consider what Unitarian Universalism might contribute to answering those questions. |
|---|---|
| ISSN: | 1467-9744 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Zygon
|
| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1111/zygo.12593 |