We all know that the world is changing. Fast. But do we know where it is going? Not exactly.
That being the case, how can we control where it is going? And who is the "we" in control? In Hacking Darwin: Genetic Engineering and the Future of Humanity, the technology futurist, geopolitical expert, past White House fellow, and, like this author, dedicated endurance athlete Jamie Metzl paints a picture that is at once wondrous and terrifying.
His focus, as the book title indicates, is the impact of genetic engineering in the very definition of what it means to be human. The prospects border on what would, a few years back, be considered a mix of impossible and, to many, immoral. Metzl writes with great clarity and a sense of urgency that we should all take to heart.
His case, based on an extrapolation of current research, is firmly grounded on what is indeed possible within the next decade or so. This is no wild sci-fi extrapolation but is already beginning to happen, given advances in genomics and gene-editing techniques. Like Metzl, I believe the conversation of where this is taking us — and how such advances should be regulated — is essential.
Read Full Article »