The Future is Now
America Confronts the New Genetics
Published on 11. May 2002
Book
Hardback
384 pages
978-0-7425-2195-7 (ISBN)
Description
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. Welcome to the politics of the 21st century. This collection, edited by William Kristol and Eric Cohen, chronicles the start of this great 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 current 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 original 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.
An original 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.
Reviews / Votes
This compilation will attract not only those struggling to understand the ethical debate over bioscience but also those trying to predict the political fortunes of the Republican right. * Booklist * For those with archival interest to the history of this debate, there may be no more useful primer to conservative arguments over human nature and the limits of science. * Los Angeles Times * Kristol and Cohen have edited a reader, The Future Is Now, that aims to present fairly many sides of a complex issue. In the main they have succeeded. * The Public Interest * Morally serious people will be grateful to have this collection on hand as America faces the challenge nicely stated in the editor's closing reflections. -- Glenn Ellmers * Claremont Review of Books * An interesting read, The Future Is Now should alert us all to the need for scientific literacy among a populace that will elect tomorrow's decision makers. * Science Books and Films *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
United States
Publishing group
Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Dimensions
Height: 234 mm
Width: 162 mm
Thickness: 27 mm
Weight
617 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-7425-2195-7 (9780742521957)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
The Future is Now
America Confronts the New Genetics
E-Book
03/2002
1st Edition
Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
€91.49
Available for download
Persons
William Kristol is editor of The Weekly Standard. Widely considered one of the nation's leading political analysts and commentators, Kristol regularly appears on major television public affairs shows. Eric Cohen is a resident scholar at the Ethics and Public Policy Center
Content
Chapter 1 Introduction: The Future is Now Part 2 Part I: Brave New World? Chapter 3 Section A: Dream or Nightmare? Chapter 4 Selections from Brave New World (1932) Chapter 5 Social Biology and Population Improvement, Nature (1939) Chapter 6 Section B: Making Life in the Laboratory Chapter 7 Unpredictable Variety Still Rules Human Reproduction, Washington Post (1967) Chapter 8 Genetic Tampering, Washington Post (1967) Chapter 9 Experimental Genetics and Human Evolution, American Naturalist (1966) Chapter 10 Selections from Fabricated Man: The Ethics of Genetic Control (1970) Chapter 11 Moving Toward the Clonal Man Atlantic Monthly (1971) Chapter 12 Making Babies: The New Biology and the Old Morality The Public Interest (1972) Chapter 13 "Making Babies" Revisited Public Interest (1979) Chapter 14 Section C: The New Genetics and the American Future Chapter 15 Two Cheers (or Maybe Just One) for Progress, The Wall Street Journal (1999) Chapter 16 A Milestone in the Conquest of Nature, The Wall Street Journal (2000), Chapter 17 Designing Our Descendants, First Things (2001) Chapter 18 Politics in a Brave New World, The Public Interest (2001) Part 19 Part II: Politics in the Genetic Age-Cloning, Stem Cells, and Beyond Part 20 Section A: The Cloning/Stem Cell Debate, 1997-2000 Chapter 21 Testimony, U.S. Senate (March 1997) Chapter 22 Testimony, U.S. Senate (March 1997) Chapter 23 The Wisdom of Repugnance, The New Republic (June 1997) Chapter 24 Cloning Human Beings: Report and Recommendations (June 1997) Chapter 25 Testimony, U. S. Senate (June 1997) Chapter 26 Second Thoughts on Cloning, New York Times (Dec. 1997) Chapter 27 Of Headless Mice...And Men, Time Magazine (Jan. 1998) Chapter 28 Who's Afraid of Human Cloning, Washington Post (Feb. 1998) Chapter 29 Congressional Record, U.S. Senate (Feb. 1998) Chapter 30 Congressional Record, U.S. Senate (Feb. 1998) Chapter 31 Liberalism and Cloning, The Weekly Standard (Oct. 1998) Chapter 32 Testimony, U.S. Senate (Dec. 1998) Chapter 33 Testimony, U.S. Senate (Dec. 1998) Chapter 34 Ethical Issues in Human Stem Cell Research (Sept. 1999) Chapter 35 Petri Dish Politics, Reason Magazine (Dec. 1999) Chapter 36 Reason, Faith and Stem Cells, The Washington Post (Aug. 2000) Chapter 37 Pig-Man Cometh, The Weekly Standard (Oct. 2000) Chapter 38 A Crucial Election for Medical Research, New York Times (Nov. 2000) Part 39 Section B: The Cloning/Stem Cell Debate - 2001 Chapter 40 The Point of a Ban, Hastings Center (Jan/Feb) Chapter 41 Why Pro-Lifers Are Missing the Point, Time Magazine (Feb) Chapter 42 The Politics of Stem Cells, The Weekly Standard (March) Chapter 43 Testimony, U.S. House of Representatives (March) Chapter 44 Against Human Cloning, The Weekly Standard (April) Chapter 45 Testimony, U.S. Senate (May) Chapter 46 Preventing a Brave New World, The New Republic (May) Chapter 47 Separating Good Biotech From the Bad, The Wall Street Journal (May) Chapter 48 The Politics of Cloning, Los Angeles Times (June) Chapter 49 Letter to HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson (June) Chapter 50 For a Total Ban on Human Cloning, The Weekly Standard (June) Chapter 51 Cell Out, Slate (July) Chapter 52 Of Missile Defense and Stem Cells, The Weekly Standard (July) Chapter 53 Testimony, U.S. Senate (July) Chapter 54 Testimony, U.S. Senate (July) Chapter 55 Testimony, U.S. Senate (July) Chapter 56 A Nightmare of a Bill, The Washington Post (July) Chapter 57 Stem-Cell Research: Don't Destroy Human Life Chapter 58 Congressional Record, U.S. House of Representatives (July) Chapter 59 Congressional Record, U.S. House of Representatives (July) Chapter 60 Cloning Stem Cells, and Beyond, The Weekly Standard (Aug.) Chapter 61 Address to the Nation (Aug.) Chapter 62 Stem Cell Science and the Preservation of Life, New York Times (Aug.) Chapter 63 Stem Cells: Bush's Broken Promise, Washington Post (Aug.), Chapter 64 Stem Cell Decision: A Missouri Compromise, Los Angeles Times (Aug.) Part 65 Part III: Mortality and the American Character Chapter 66 Why Not Immortality? First Things (May 2001) Chapter 67 Biodemocracy in America The Public Interest (Winter 2002) Chapter 68 Of Terrorism and Cloning