new technologies and human enhancement
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New Technologies and
Human Enhancement
prof. J. SavulescuUniversity of Oxford, Uehiro
Centre for Practical Ethics
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Human Enhancement and
Biological Liberation
From Supermouse to
Superhuman
Program on the Ethics of the New Biosciences, Suite 8, Littlegate House, St Ebbes Street,
Oxford
Julian Savulescu, Director
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Scientists at Case Western Reserve University created agenetically engineered mouse runs for up to six hours at a speed of 20 metres per minute
before needing a rest changes to the metabolism of glucose in the blood.
glucose metabolising gene - PEPCK-C is over-expressed in theskeletal muscle-
Metabolically similar to Lance Armstrong biking up thePyrenees; they utilize mainly fatty acids for energy and producevery little lactic acid'.
Purpose:
to study the effects of diet and exercise on longevity and cancerrisk and better understand the genetic basis of inheritedconditions which lead to muscle wasting in humans
Supermouse
Program on the Ethics of the New Biosciences, Suite 8, Littlegate House, St Ebbes Street,
Oxford
Julian Savulescu, Director
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More Active: 7 times more cage activity than normal mice
Greater Endurance: Ran 6km on a treadmill (Normal mouse0.2)
Improved metabolism: ate 60% more but had half the bodyweight and only 10% of the body fat of a normal mouse
Extended lifespan: survived longer and looked healthier
Extended youthfulness: mice of 30 months still twice as fastas 6 month old normal mice and reproductively active at 21months (and up to 30 months)
Healthier: Lower Cholesterol levels
Supermouse: The Improvements
Program on the Ethics of the New Biosciences, Suite 8, Littlegate House, St Ebbes Street,
Oxford
Julian Savulescu, Director
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Table 1. Top 10 genetic enhancements
The Doogie MouseBetter memory through overexpression of the receptor subunit NR2B
Color Vision MiceAdding human photopigment allows (at least females) to see new colors.
Methuselah MiceBy reducing growth hormone levels long-lived dwarf mice can be produced. The current recordholder survived 4 years 11 months and 3 weeks, while normal mice have a two year lifespan.
Monogamous VolesNormally polygamous voles can be turned monogamous (and more social) by changing thevassopressin V1a receptor.
Regenerating MRL MiceThese mice regenerate holes punched in their ears as well as some injuries to heartmuscle. (accidental breeding rather than genetic engineering).
Schwarzenegger Mice and Belgian Blue Cows Increased muscle mass through myostatin knockout. Occursnaturally in cows and humans.
Hard Working Monkeys Monkeys tend to slack off until they get close to a reward they have to work for. Ifinjected with a DNA construct that blocks the D2 receptor they work at an even rate.
Anticancer Mice Immune systems that kill cancer cells efficiently and can even help other mice through bloodtransfusions.
Antiobesi ty Mice Protected from obesity and diabetes by their lack the enzyme DGAT1. Their fat tissue can evenreduce obesity and glucose buildup in other mice if transplanted.
Marathon Mice: Overexpress PPAR in their muscles- turn into slow twitch fibers that work well for long-distancerunning. More endurance and increased resistance to obesity.
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Biological Liberation
biological liberation being liberated from the biological constraints
evolution placed on us.
the reason there are no supermen, like the reason
there are no naturally occurring supermice is that itwould have been evolutionarily disadvantageous,given previous environments, to require the vastamounts of food resources to produce this
advantage in speed, endurance and reproduction
Program on the Ethics of the New Biosciences, Suite 8, Littlegate House, St Ebbes Street,
Oxford
Julian Savulescu, Director
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Biological Liberation Our biochemistry is set to Pleistocene
conditions But today, we have a superabundance of
food in the West
We could easily provide the calories to run at thisspeed.
Whereas evolution may have had good reason
not to produce supermen, we could.
Program on the Ethics of the New Biosciences, Suite 8, Littlegate House, St Ebbes Street,
Oxford
Julian Savulescu, Director
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Biological Liberation our lives when we reproduce, whether we get cancer
or heart disease, how long we live, how we performmentally and physically are determined in large partby very basic biochemical cycles in our bodies.
differences between us are often the function of very
small differences in biology. we can now change these basic cycles with radical
results. possibility of humans being twice as fast, living twice as long,
reproducing at 80, not aging, being mentally and physicallymuch quicker is not science fiction.
Program on the Ethics of the New Biosciences, Suite 8, Littlegate House, St Ebbes Street,
Oxford
Julian Savulescu, Director
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Julian Savulescu
www.practicalethics.ox.ac.uk
Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics
RadicalAlterationofHumans
CurrentPossibilities
Transgenesis
Chimeras
HumanAnimal
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www.practicalethics.ox.ac.uk
Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics
Transgenesis
Currentuses
Medicalresearchchromosome21inmice
Diseaseresistantspecies
Productsusefultohumansbloodclottingfactors,artificialfibres
Xenotransplantation
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www.practicalethics.ox.ac.uk
Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics
TheRealWorldContext:UKResearch
LastNovembertwouniversities,KingsCollegeLondonandNewcastleUniversity,appliedtotheHumanFertilisationandEmbryologyAuthority(HFEA)totocreateearlystage chimeric embryosthatwouldbe99.9
percenthumanand0.1percentanimalinordertoproduceembryonicstemcells (Telegraph).
Scientistsproposedusingrabbiteggs.
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www.practicalethics.ox.ac.uk
Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics
NewsReaction
DocstocreateMootant cells saidTheSun. Scientiststomixcellsofhumansandcows theDailyTelegraphheadlineditsreport.
Theaccompanyingarticletoldreadersthathumancellswillbefusedwithrabbit,cowandgoateggs
opponentsoftheresearch calledtheplans abhorrent yesterdayandclaimedthat
scientistswereundermining thewholedistinctionbetweenanimalsandhumans. Manynewspapers,includingtheDailyMail,publisheddrawingsofachimera (the
wordusedtodescribehumananimalembryos) afirebreathingbeastwithalionshead,agoatsmiddle,adragonsrearandaserpentstail.
thenextgenetichorrorstory beingnightmarishparthumanpartanimalhybrids
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Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics
Ethics
thisresearchwouldgenerate EScelllineswithgeneticmutationsthatcausehumandisease
providesamodelforstudyingthediseaseincellculture.
ParkinsonsandAlzheimersDiseases.
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www.practicalethics.ox.ac.uk
Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics
Whycreatehybridembryos?
Thereisashortageofhumanembryos(andespeciallyhumaneggs)forresearch.
Thosecurrentlyavailablearesurplusfromhumanassistedreproductiontechniques(invitrofertilizationor
prenatalgeneticdiagnosis) veryrare
oftenpoorquality
donotcontainallthegeneticmutationsthatneedtobestudied.
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Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics
Significance
Creatinghumananimalhybridsassourceofdiseasespecificstemcellshasenormoussignificancefortworeasons
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www.practicalethics.ox.ac.uk
Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics
1.SelfTransplantation
Usingthiskindoftechnology,onedaywemaybeabletotakeaskincellfromapatientwithleukaemia,cloneit,deriveembryonicstem(ES)cells,producebloodstemcells,andtransferthebloodcellsbackasatransplant
afterchemotherapy Althoughhumaneggswouldbeamoresuitablesource
ofeggsfortheprocedure,thetechniquescouldbedevelopedonhybrids
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Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics
SelfTransplantation
therewouldbenoneedfordrugstopreventrejection,whichcanbelethal
couldproducetissuetorepairdamagedorgansliketheheartandbrainwithnocapacityforregeneration,
providingradicalnewtreatmentsforstrokeandheartattack,Parkinsonsdisease,andmanyotherdiseases.
RegenerativeMedicine
holygrail ofmedicine.
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Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics
2.CellularModelsofHumanDisease
hybridembryoscouldbeusedtostudyinaradicallynewwayanydiseaseinaculturedish
Cloningasingleskincellfromapatientwithadiseasecouldbeusedtoproduceinexhaustibleamountsofcellsandtissuewiththatdisease
experimentedupontounderstandwhydiseaseoccurs.
understandthegeneticcontributiontodisease
totestvastarraysofnewdrugswhichcouldnotbetestedinhumanpeople.
reducetheneedforanimalexperimentationbecause
humancellsandtissues,notpeopleoranimals,couldbeusedtotestnewdrugs.
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Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics
EthicsandSinsofOmission FailingtoDoGoodResearch
Tofailtodobeneficialresearchisaswrongasdoingharmfulresearch.
Tofailtoreleaseadrugthatwillsave100,000livesismorallyequivalenttokilling100,000people,andtofailtodevelopadrugthatwillsave100,000livesisthesameasfailingtoreleaseit.
Wemaynotbeabletopointtothosepeoplewhoseliveswouldhavebeensaved,buttheirlivesarenolessvaluable.
Throughafailureofmoralimaginationwemaycontinuetoholdbackcloningresearchandberesponsibleforthedeathsofmanypeoplewhoperishedwhilewedelayedthedevelopmentof
treatments.
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Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics
FourObjectionstoESresearch
1.LARGENUMBERSOFEGGS researchrequireslargenumbersofeggsthatmustberemovedfromhealthyyoungwomenatsomeriskoflifeandhealthtothem.
2.ELITISTresearchissaidtobeaWesternluxurywhichwillbeexoticandexpensive,onlybenefitingtherichestcountries.
3.ADULTSTEMCELLRESEARCHshowsgreatpotentialandispreferable.
4.recentresearchshowstheremaybeINFECTIOUSandotherrisks,suchasoccurredwithbovinespongiformencephalitis,oftransplantingtissuebacktopeoplewhenitisgrownonforeign
culture
material
or
uses
animal
eggs
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Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics
Response:HybridResearchIsImmunetoTheseObjections
1.wouldrequirenohumaneggstoproducevastamountsoftissueforthestudyofdisease.
2.mayresultinthedevelopmentofdrugsforcommonconditionswhichafflictpeopleallaroundtheworld,
including
the
developing
world.
3notpossibletouseadultstemcellsinthisway.
4.noriskofinfectionfromdrugsdevelopedbystudyingtissueinthisway,asthedrugmoleculeswould
beproducedpharmaceutically.
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Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics
Philosophy
ImportanceofConceptualDistinctions(Philosophy)
Theseobjectionsapply(iftheyapplyatall)onlytocloningforselftransplantation.
Theydonotapplytocloningfordeveloping
cellularmodels
of
disease
whichwillhelpus
understandandtreatdisease.
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Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics
ThreeOtherObjectionstoHybridCloningresearch
1.CreatesandDestroysEmbryos Response:distinguishbetweenthemoralstatusofwanted
andunwantedembryos. Embryoshaveaspecialmoralstatus potential when
theyareapartofaprojecttohaveachild
Murder
if
kill
a
wanted
unborn
child Negligenceisdestroywantedfrozenembryos Whentheyarenot,theyhaveamuchlowerstatus:
forthatreasonwepermitpeopletodiscardembryosinIVFwhentheyhavecompletedtheirfamily,haveabortion,orusetheIUD.
Thisresearchwouldnotpreventanychildcominginto
existence
who
would
have
existed
if
the
research
had
not
beendone.
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www.practicalethics.ox.ac.uk
Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics
ThreeOtherObjections
2.ChimerasareUnnaturalandCrossSpeciesBoundaries
Thesecondobjectionisthatweshouldnotcreatenewhumannonhumanhybridsorchimerasbecausetheyare
unnaturalandcrosssomekindofprofoundethicalline.
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Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics
Unnatural
Response:
scientistshaveforovertwentyyearsbeeninsertinghumangenesintoanimalstocreateanimalmodelsofthehumandisease.
asignificantproportionoftheNIHbudgetgoestothisresearch.
scientistshaveintroducedhumanEScellsintoanimalstostudydevelopmentanddisease
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www.practicalethics.ox.ac.uk
Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics
LessonsFromHistory
Foroveradecadewehavehadthepowertocreatehumannonhumanchimerasbyfusingembryos.Indeed,wehavealreadycreatednewanimalssuchasthegeep,broughtintobeingbyfusingagoatandsheepembryo.
Novellifeformshavebeencreatedandcouldbecreated.
Thisresearchwillbecloselyregulatedandtheembryosdestroyed,so theircreationislesscontroversialthanconventionalresearch
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www.practicalethics.ox.ac.uk
Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics
ThreeOtherObjections
3.SlipperySlopeI:
researchbringsusonestepcloser toreproductivecloning
cloningtoproducelivebornbabies.
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www.practicalethics.ox.ac.uk
Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics
Response:
Reproductivecloningisunlikelytobesafebasedontheobservationthatclonedanimals(mostlymiceandcows)havehundredsofgenesthatareabnormallyexpressed,inparticulargenes
importantfor
fetal
development.
Theresultinganimalshaveabnormalitiesduringdevelopment(whichiswhy95%ormoreofclonedembryosabort),atbirth(largeoffspringsyndrome),orlaterinlife(evenseeminglynormal
mice
often
develop
obesity,
die
prematurely,
or
developmoretumorsthancontrols).
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www.practicalethics.ox.ac.uk
Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics
Response
Theresponsetofearsaboutreproductivecloningisnottobancloning.
Itistobanreproductivecloning.
TheU.K.hasalreadybannedreproductive
cloning,andanyscientistintheU.K.wholetsahybriddeveloplongerthan14dayswouldfacecriminalcharges.
Tobanthisresearchbecauseoffearsaboutreproductivecloningorcreationofhumannonhumanchimerasisnot
justtothrowthebabyoutwiththebathwater.Itispossiblytothrowmillionsofbabiesout.
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Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics
Regulation
Thereisnotaslipperyslopebutasetofsteps.
LegislationincountriesliketheUnitedKingdomiscapableofeffectivelyregulatingsuchcontroversialresearch.
Cloning,Transgenesis and
chimeras
illustrate
that
the
claim
that
ifscientistscan,theywillisfalse. Transgenesis andchimerasareempiricalevidencethat
thereisnotaslipperyslopetoradicalalterationofthehumankind.
AsdebateoccurringintheUKnowillustrates,proper
regulationis
what
is
necessary
to
convert
the
slope
to
aset
ofsteps.
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www.practicalethics.ox.ac.uk
Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics
WhatHappenedintheUK?
On2April2008,thefirsthumananimalembryo wascreatedbyscientistsatNewcastleUniversityunderalicencefromtheHumanFertilisationandEmbryologyAuthority(HFEA).
ThelegalityofsuchlicenceshasbeenconfirmedbytheHumanFertilisationandEmbryologyBill(theBill),recentlypassedbytheUKParliament.
TheBill specificallypermitsthe HFEAtolicensethecreationforresearchofseveraltypesofembryosthat
combinehuman
and
animal
genetic
material
(called,
in
theBill,humanadmixedembryos).
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Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics
HFEABill
UndertheBill,humanadmixedembryosaredefinedtoincludeembryosthatarealmostallhuman(cybrids)andalsoembryosthatareuptohalfhumanandhalfnonhumananimal(animal):section4A(5).
Humanadmixedembryos:1. Cybrids (orcytoplasmic hybrids):formedbyincubating human
geneticmaterialincytoplasmfromananimal.2. Hybridembryos:formedfromahumaneggandanimalspermor
viceversa;orfromananimalpronucleusandahumanpronucleus.
3. Transgenicembryos:formedbyintroducinganimalDNAintooneormorecellsofahumanembryo.
4. Chimeras:formedbyaddingoneormoreanimalcellstoahumanembryo.
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Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics
Differencesbetweenadmixedembryos
Cybrids:99.9%humanDNAmatchedtothepersonfromwhomtheywerecloned;verysmallamountofmitochondrialDNAfromtheanimalscytoplasm.
Hybridembryos:humanandanimalchromosomesbecauseformedbyfertilisingeggandspermfromdifferentspecies.
Transgenicembryos: variableamountofanimalDNAdependingonhowmanygenesaretransferred.
Chimeras:humanandanimalcellsbecauseformedbymerginghumanandanimalembryos.
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Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics
SlipperySlopeandPrecautionaryPrinciple
DailyTelegraph hostedadebateprovocativelytitledHasembryoresearchgonetoofar andpublisheda
comment
piece
by
Simon
Hefferwho
wrotethattheprospect[ofsuchresearch]horrifiesme.Itisaviolationandmongrelisationofourspecies,Heffer said,andoneday,somebody
willgrow
abeast
that
has
horns
and
a
tail.
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Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics
TheSlipperySlopeObjection
Response
Howvalidistheprediction?
Howbadisthebottomoftheslope?
Woulditalwaysbewrongtoradicallybiologicallymodifyhumanbeings?
O f d U hi C t f P ti l Ethi
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Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics
TheThreattoHumanity
Objection
Threattohumanity
Unnatural
Affronttohumandignity
transgressionoftheunspeakablyprofound.
Repugnancemaybetheonlyvoiceleftthatspeaksuptodefendthecentralcoreofhumanity LeonKass
O f d U hi C t f P ti l Ethi
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www.practicalethics.ox.ac.uk
Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics
WhatisHumanity?
Distinguishesusfromotheranimals
Notbiology
Share98.5%ofgenomewithchimps
MuchofourDNAisviral
Candidatepropertiesforourmoralstatus[PropertyX]
capacitytoreason
capacitytoactfromnormativereasons,includingmoralreasons
capacitytoactautonomously
capacityto
engage
in
complex
social
relationships
capacitytodisplayempathyandsympathy
capacitytohavefaith(believeinagod)
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Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics
WhatPromotesorErodesOurHumanity?
Actionswhichexpressourhumanity
Expressourpracticalrationality
Modificationtopreventdiseasevs creationoffreaksfor
entertainment Pigvalvesusedinsurgery
Xenotransplants
Piginsulin
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Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics
HumanChimeras
Possiblereasons
Eugenic
SourceofEScells
Infertilitytreatment
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TheMoralStatusofChimeras
Mouse/ratwithbrainmadefromhumanembryonicstemcells
StudyHuntingtonDisease,AlzheimerDisease
Doesit
have
Property
X?
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MoralStatus
PropertyXcanbepromotedoreroded
Actionswhicherodeorpromotethecapacitytoengageinpracticalreasoning
Improvedsensorycapacity,longevity,empathy,rationality,memoryvs ferociousness,violence
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Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics
Conclusion
Radicalgeneticalterationofhumansisnotnecessarilyathreattoourhumanity
Itmaybe
Butitmaypromoteourhumanity
Anotherlesson:
Candoesnotimplywill
Againsttheempiricalversionoftheslipperyslope
argument
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Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics
MoralResponsibility
Oughtimpliescan
Whenwecouldnotaffectthebiologicalnatureofhumanbeings,wewerenotresponsiblefortheirdeficienciesanddisabilities
Can(roughly)impliesoughttodecide
Whenwecaninfluencebiology,wearemorallyresponsiblefortheforeseeableconsequencesoffailingtointervene/leavingittonature
Wecanbemorallyresponsiblefortheforeseeableconsequencesofouromissions sinsofomission
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Methods
(1)soundanalyticphilosophy;
(2)interdisciplinarycollaborationwithotherresearchersinthehumanitiesandsciencesandtheuseofrelevantempiricalresearchfromthose
disciplines;
(3)seamlesscollaborationwithscientistsandmedicalprofessionalsinvolvedinthedevelopmentoftechnologytoidentifyethicalissuesarisingfromimminentandlongtermdevelopments.
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PracticalEthicsinOxford
workisbothproactiveaswellasreactive.
constructiveaswellasobstructive
itidentifiesstrategiestofacilitategoodscientificdevelopment
aswell
as
identifying
the
limits
to
research
and
development
oftheseareasofscience.
Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics
-
8/13/2019 New Technologies and Human Enhancement
64/65
90
Julian Savulescu
www.practicalethics.ox.ac.uk
ConvergingTechnologies:NBIC
Nanotechnology
Biotechnology
Informationtechnology
CognitiveScience
Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics
-
8/13/2019 New Technologies and Human Enhancement
65/65
91
Julian Savulescu
www.practicalethics.ox.ac.uk
DutchResearchCouncil
researchprogramontheethicsoftechnology(10MillionEurofor4years)incollaborationwithotherMinisteries andpublicpolicymakers
(1)inter/multidisciplinarycollaboration(eachprojectunderthis
program
has
to
demonstrate
effective
collaboration
between
scientists/engineers,ethicists,andsocialorbehaviouralscientists)
(2)anticipatoryethicsshouldkickinpreferrably whenitcanstillmakeadifference
(3)focusondesign(genes,molecules,devices,systems,infrastructure)insteadofexclusivelyonanalysisandevaluation
(4)researchshouldbeinternational
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