NATHANIEL COMFORT, “IN PURSUIT OF PERFECTION: CONTROLLING HUMAN EVOLUTION FROM EUGENICS TO CRISPR”

Nathaniel Comfort, Professor, Department of the History of Medicine at Johns Hopkins University, presents:

“IN PURSUIT OF PERFECTION: CONTROLLING HUMAN EVOLUTION FROM EUGENICS TO CRISPR”

Lunch workshop, Tues., April 18, 2017, Cone 113, 12:30-2:00. Free and open to everyone, but please RSVP by April 13 so we know how much food to order!

Abstract: Since Ancient Greece, humans have dreamed of creating genetic utopias, in which disease is eradicated and we are all smart, strong, kind, and beautiful. Technology has steadily narrowed the target of selection, from the social to the molecular. And society has shifted from a collectivist belief in self-sacrifice for the greater good to staunchly self-interested individualism. Do these changes make eugenics okay? Or do they solve some problems and create others?

Cosponsored by NC Biotech