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Procedure for Adaptive Laboratory Evolution of Microorganisms Using a Chemostat
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Published on: September 20, 2016

Enhancing evolution and enhancing evolution.

Iain Brassington1

  • 1University of Manchester, United Kingdom. iain.brassington@manchester.ac.uk

Bioethics
|February 19, 2009
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

New genetic technologies offer rapid enhancements, but ethical debates continue. While enhancement is permissible, a duty to enhance is not supported, and its overall goodness remains questionable.

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Area of Science:

  • Bioethics
  • Genetics
  • Evolutionary Biology

Background:

  • Genetic technologies offer rapid human trait modification, potentially surpassing natural selection.
  • John Harris argues for a duty to enhance human evolution via these technologies.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To critically evaluate John Harris's arguments for human enhancement.
  • To determine the permissibility and ethical goodness of using genetic technologies for enhancement.
  • To assess the claim that there is a duty to enhance human evolution.

Main Methods:

  • Philosophical analysis of ethical arguments concerning genetic enhancement.
  • Critique of "genomic optimism" and its implications for human evolution.
  • Examination of the distinction between permissibility and ethical goodness.

Main Results:

  • Dismisses arguments against genetic enhancement, deeming it permissible.
  • Finds Harris's arguments for the "goodness" of enhancement less convincing.
  • Contends that a duty to enhance human evolution is not established.

Conclusions:

  • Genetic enhancement is ethically permissible but not necessarily "good."
  • The claim of a duty to enhance human evolution is unfounded.
  • Further ethical deliberation is required regarding the scope and implications of genetic enhancement.