Published August 26, 2003
Eric Cohen, editor of The New Atlantis and director of EPPC’s program on Biotechnology and American Democracy debated questions of biotechnology and ethics in a four-part series presented by U.S. News & World Report online. He faced off against Simon Smith, editor of Betterhumans.com.
Part 1 – August 26, 2003
“We must confront and recognize the ways we have lessened, or might lessen, ourselves through our own technological achievements and pursuits.”
Part 2 – August 27, 2003
“Less obvious, if more profound, are the ways the goods of human life are inextricable from our being mortal beings — beings who pass through the stages of life; who are touched by fragility and hardship; who live urgently, not putting off everything important until the endless tomorrow; and who commit themselves to another person until ‘death do us part.'”
Part 3 – August 28, 2003
“The problem, however, is that the body may be more than a machine, and our longings and aspirations more than a ghost in that machine.”
Part 4 – August 29, 2003
“I am not so eager to gamble the distinctive love and excellence of human life in the vain hope that post-humanity will be better.”
