Designer Biology: The Ethics of Intensively Engineering Biological and Ecological Systems

Description

Advances in our scientific understanding and technological power in recent decades have dramatically amplified our capacity to intentionally manipulate complex ecological and biological systems. An implication of this is that biological and ecological problems are increasingly understood and approached from an engineering perspective. In environmental contexts, this is exemplified in the pursuits of geoengineering, designer ecosystems, and conservation cloning. In human health contexts, it is exemplified in the development of synthetic biology, bionanotechnology, and human enhancement technologies. Designer Biology: The Ethics of Intensively Engineering Biological and Ecological Systems consists of thirteen chapters (twelve of them original to the collection) that address the ethical issues raised by technological intervention and design across a broad range of biological and ecological systems. Among the technologies addressed are geoengineering, human enhancement, sex selection, genetic modification, and synthetic biology. This collection advances and enriches our understanding of the ethical issues raised by these technologies and identifies general lessons about the ethics of engineering complex biological and ecological systems that can be applied as new technologies and practices emerge. The insights that emerge will be especially valuable to students and scholars of environmental ethics, bioethics, or technology ethics. Cover Title page Copyright page Contents Acknowledgments Introduction I: Engineering Humans Chapter One: Sex Selection and the Value-Ladenness of the Procreative Liberty Framework Chapter Two: The Ethics of Embryo Selection Chapter Three: Assessing Efficacy of “Neuroenhancing” Drugs Chapter Four: Engineering for Virtue? Toward Holistic Moral Enhancement Chapter Five: Radical Human Enhancement, and What’s Wrong with It Chapter Six: Human Engineering and Climate Change II: Engineering the Environment Chapter Seven: The Human Influence Chapter Eight: Why Scientists Should Get Out of Nature Conservation Chapter Nine: What It Takes to Justify Geoengineering the Climate Chapter Ten: Remediation vs. Steering III: Engineering Life Chapter Eleven: Sensitivity Enhancement Chapter Twelve: The Capacities, Interests, and Organization of Artifactual Organisms Chapter Thirteen: How to Evolve a Good of Your Own Conclusion Index About the Contributors