5) I loved this article and am definitely team “let’s avoid human suffering if we can.” I couldn’t believe how skeptical her interviewer was—she was right to shut down his “aren’t you playing god” line of questioning. As she said, we should still invent insulin for diabetics. Why shouldn’t we keep people from developing cancer if we can?
I'm still waiting for the Full Self Driving that I bought 5 years ago to work well enough to drive me across town without feeling like it's going to kill me every 20 seconds or so. I have enormous respect for what Elon Musk has accomplished, but I've come to take his predictions with a very large grain of salt. I won't be packing that Mars bound suitcase any time soon.
I wrote my 2006 Princeton senior thesis about human genetic engineering and have been surprised that we haven't seen more stories like this in the years since then.
I assume the technology has been available but society has been hesitant.
It's definitely important to be thoughtful about these topics. They are tricky.
Interesting column. Thanks. I particularly enjoyed the last one, Problem Source and Decision Trees. Wondering about applying that logic to choosing a subject for writing.
5) I loved this article and am definitely team “let’s avoid human suffering if we can.” I couldn’t believe how skeptical her interviewer was—she was right to shut down his “aren’t you playing god” line of questioning. As she said, we should still invent insulin for diabetics. Why shouldn’t we keep people from developing cancer if we can?
I'm still waiting for the Full Self Driving that I bought 5 years ago to work well enough to drive me across town without feeling like it's going to kill me every 20 seconds or so. I have enormous respect for what Elon Musk has accomplished, but I've come to take his predictions with a very large grain of salt. I won't be packing that Mars bound suitcase any time soon.
Why Not Mars:
For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for nature cannot be fooled.
— Richard Feynman
https://idlewords.com
I wrote my 2006 Princeton senior thesis about human genetic engineering and have been surprised that we haven't seen more stories like this in the years since then.
I assume the technology has been available but society has been hesitant.
It's definitely important to be thoughtful about these topics. They are tricky.
Interesting column. Thanks. I particularly enjoyed the last one, Problem Source and Decision Trees. Wondering about applying that logic to choosing a subject for writing.