Scientists discuss synthetic human genome behind closed doors
by Michael Cook | 22 May 2016 |
According to an exclusive report in the New York Times, 150 scientists, lawyers and entrepreneurs gathered behind closed doors at Harvard earlier this month to discuss creating a synthetic human genome.
This is scientifically and ethically controversial because it could lead to the creation of humans without parents, genetically-engineered humans or copies of existing people.
Although details of the project are secret, the organiser seems to be Dr George Church, of Harvard Medical School, a colourful geneticist who has proposed creating Neanderthal humans based on ancient fragments of their DNA. The NYTimes says that a primary goal of the meeting was to “synthesize a complete human genome in a cell line within a period of 10 years.”
Drew Endy, of Stanford University, and Laurie Zoloth, a bioethicist at Northwestern University, were highly critical of the secrecy surrounding the meeting in the magazine Cosmos.
We note that the narrative of creation of the human is the central narrative for many religious communities. To create a human genome from scratch would be an enormous moral gesture whose consequences should not be framed initially on the advice of lawyers and regulators alone.
The perspectives of others including self-identified theologians, philosophers, and ethicists from a variety of traditions should be sought out from the very beginning. Critical voices representing civil society, who have long been sceptical of synthetic biology’s claims, should also be included.
The creation of new human life is one of the last human-associated processes that has not yet been industrialised or fully commodified. It remains an act of faith, joy, and hope.
Discussions to synthesise, for the first time, a human genome should not occur in closed rooms.
Twelve years ago, political scientist Francis Fukuyama described transhumanism as “the world’s most dangerous idea”. In 2004, that sounded a bit daft -- almost no one had ever heard of the idea. For many people it still does, but now transhumanism is going mainstream.
Movies are being made about transhumanist themes; newspapers like the Washington Post are running feature articles on it; and a transhumanist is running for US President. It is indeed dangerous. As Fukuyama said:
The seeming reasonableness of the project, particularly when considered in small increments, is part of its danger. Society is unlikely to fall suddenly under the spell of the transhumanist worldview. But it is very possible that we will nibble at biotechnology's tempting offerings without realizing that they come at a frightful moral cost.
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