In the space of around a hundred years, successive waves took humanity from an era of candles and horse carts to one of power stations and space stations. Something similar is going to occur in the next thirty years. In the coming decades, a new wave of technology will force us to confront the most foundational questions our species has ever faced. Do we want to edit our genomes so that some of us can have children with immunity to certain diseases, or with more intelligence, or with the potential to live longer? Are we committed to holding on to our place at the top of the evolutionary
...more
