Open AccessHideous progeny? The future of growing humans
Author(s) -
Philip Ball
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
mètode. annual review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.129
H-Index - 4
eISSN - 2174-9221
pISSN - 2174-3487
DOI - 10.7203/metode.12.20651
Subject(s) - identity (music) , environmental ethics , state (computer science) , embryonic stem cell , biology , sociology , aesthetics , genetics , philosophy , computer science , algorithm , gene
Today’s biotechnologies are not simply providing powerful new possibilities in medicine; they are transforming our view of what it can mean to be human. In particular, the discovery of the extreme plasticity of cells – the possibility of changing one tissue type for another, and of regenerating the embryonic cell state from which we all grew – forces us to confront our status as a contingent community of living cells, and challenges traditional notions of self and identity. Here I discuss some of these technologies and their broader social, ethical and philosophical implications.