The Future is Now: America Confronts the New Genetics

Who could have imagined that President Bush’s first special address to the nation would be about the coming genetic revolution? Or that one of the defining issues in American politics would be stem cell research? Clearly, a national debate has begun that will not soon end -one that will force America to confront whether genetics advances will contribute to human dignity or threaten it, whether there are moral limits to scientific progress, and in general what life will look like in the genetic age. This collection, edited by William Kristol and Eric Cohen, aims to chronicle the start of this national debate. It looks back, beginning with selections from Aldous Huxley and C.S. Lewis, who first imagined the possibility of a Brave New World many decades ago. It looks forward, moving on to the debate over human cloning and stem cells, including articles, essays, speeches and testimony from genetic enthusiasts and critics, scientists and moralists, politicians and scholars. An introduction by Kristol and Cohen maps out the major disagreements, the questions ahead, and their own view that America’s unchecked faith in technological progress needs a radical reconsideration. Other selections include essays by Leon Kass, Francis Fukuyama and Charles Krauthammer; testimony from Geron president Thomas O'Karma, bioethicist Daniel Callahan and actor-activist Michael J. Fox; speeches from the House of Representatives debate on human cloning; and the President’s address to the nation.