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Dr. Pinker Lays the Smackdown on Leon Kass
Leon Kass, the scientific community frowns on your deathist shenanigans and paternalistic tomfoolery. We will continue to denounce your anti-freedom, control-freak bioethical views until the day your theocon allies are booted out of the White House, which will occur on January 20, 2009. Enjoy your eight months.
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Posted by JANUSZ CZOCH on 05/14 at 06:20 PM
Molecular biology is now expanding at an explosive pace. What would happen if we were to push the rate of progress just that little bit more?
Meet the real life alliance of engineers, scientists, philanthropists and volunteer fund raisers all of whom have but one thing in common. None of whom want to have an appointment with the grave or the furnace several decades from as of today.
De Grey is a man with a mission. Consider this improbable scenario: a hitherto unknown Cambridge scientist realises he holds the key to saving the lives of countless millions. What is he to do? In that situation what would YOU do? This is not some improbable science-fiction scenario. This is here and right now.
I for one do not want to die
The Race is ON!
"What's likely to happen within the next 20 to 25, 30 years, we will develop technology that will buy a bit of time. We will develop rejuvenation technology that can be applied to people that are already middle-age and keep them middle-age, or less so to speak, for another 20 or 30 years. During that 20 or 30 years, the technology will be further advanced to give them another, let's say, 15 years, and so on."
-Aubrey de Grey: chief science officer. Methuselah Foundation
Let's Roll!
Posted by malatesta on 05/15 at 05:59 PM
I have a fear and it's genetic colonialism. What do you think of it. Would you sale the world, as people sold it with fuel policies? Would we need to look for the best policy to exploit this wonderful resource? Human being and genetics?
E.
Posted by Adam P on 05/17 at 02:50 PM
Two brilliant essays by Pinker and Anissimov. However, the notion that Obama will win the Presidency is premature. Obama has not (as of May 17, 2008) yet received the Democratic nomination. Although he probably will get nominated, winning the general election is another matter. McCain has many years of political and military experience. Obama will have only four years in the Senate by January 2009 (and he has spent two years campaigning for the Presidency). Once the primaries are over, Obama's shine will fade.
Although McCain frustrates many conservatives, it is unlikely that those conservatives will support Obama or stay home on election day, for no other reason than Obama being more unpalatable to them than McCain.
McCain falls outside of conventional Republican norms, so I don't know what his bioethics policy will be. I don't know what Obama's bioethics policy will be, either, but it is likely that it will not include the likes of Kass, Fukuyama, Callahan, etc., and I could vote for Obama on that reason alone. However, with the exception of bioethics, I lean conservative. If it were not for the President's Council on Bioethics (as well as totally botching the Iraq war) I could conceivably be a Bush supporter, albeit a very reluctant one.
Posted by Rob S on 05/05 at 03:50 PM
Mr. Anissimov -- you refer to Dr. Kass's work as "hyper-theological" in the above summary. Say what you will about his work in bioethics or anywhere else, but his work is hardly theological. Even his work on Genesis stays adroitly philosophical, intently shying away from a partisan perspective on any matters of doctrinal or sectarian difference.
That you label him such indicates to me that you haven't read his work carefully. Dr. Kass is no knee-jerk religious nutcase. He comes to his reflections by means of careful analysis of a variety of philosophical texts.
Do yourself a favor and read this interview: http://www.neh.gov/news/humanities/2009-05/Interview.html. Show me where all the religious influence is -- where the partisan, doctrinal influence takes over. It's simply not there. His work is philosophical, not beholden to any one specific religious worldview.
You cheapen your own analysis and summary by failing to show that you understand the influences on this man's reflections.
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