EDST 391 Ethics & the Human Genome

Name:
Date:
"Calendar"

Assignment for Day 11

Advances, Assumptions, and Constraints: Chromosomes 3-7

Readings:

• Chapters 3-7 (History, Fate, Environment, Intelligence, Instinct) of Matt Ridley's The Genome

Log-keeping assignment:

• Background: Genomic science and technology promises great benefits. We have focused so far on the ethics and social merits of using those technologies--what we "ought to do." We now turn to the likely constraints on what such technology might actually be able to do--the "can do." Some of those constraints are likely to arise from the very nature of the genome itself. In discussing the mysteries and complexities of the human genome, Ridley's book conveys some sense of what those constraints might be.

• Task: Please keep a running log while you are reading his book, and bring it to class for our discussions. For each day's readings, record the following:
  1. Summary (with page numbers) of discussions particularly relevant to your specialty area (e.g., gene therapy, forensics, embryo selection, etc.) There will be some on some days, but perhaps none on others.
  2. Inherent constraints on developing feasible genomic technologies owing to the way the genome itself works or is built.
  3. Any ethical claims or assumptions embedded in Ridley's discussion of the genome.