EDST 391 Ethics & the Human Genome

Name:
Date:
"Calendar"

Readings

• Ida, Should we improve human nature? An interrogation from an Asian perspective".
• Start reading Brave New World for Paper 1.
• You will carry out a survey (see task below)

Writing assignment:

• Background: Today's medical utopians speak as if they are offering what we want most: technologies to eradicate disease, disability, the infirmities of old age, and imperfections in ourselves and our children. But is this really what most people seek, or value most of all, in their own lives--what gives their lives meaning?
• Task: Conduct a survey of people you know.
  1. Formulate one or more questions to find out what an individual considers most important in life.
  2. Then survey individuals of different ages and life circumstances.
  3. Write up what they (no names, please) seem to seek or value most in their lives, themselves, and others; and
  4. to what extent it fits or doesn't fit the medical utopians' implicit view of the good life.

Thinking assignment:

• Based on the reading, do you think that individuals from the Asian perspective might answer your question differently than your respondents did? Please explain.