Thinking assignment:

• Background: The last two articles (your previous readings) discuss the human aspirations that drive today's new genetic and medical technologies.
• Task 1: Comb through them to identify what those aims and aspirations seem to be. In the Economist, these driving aspirations may largely be implicit or taken-for-granted, that is, not explicitly pointed to.
  • What are they?
  • What patterns do you see? For example, to what extent do they represent “goods” for individuals vs. society as a whole? Global and vague (e.g., the “good of mankind”) vs. highly specific (e.g., cure cancer)?
• Task 2: Turning now to the three newspaper articles, would some of their authors argue that The Economist's "scientific" claims really represent hidden or unspoken political or ethical preferences about "the good"? Please be specific.

Be prepared to discuss in class (no writing to be turned in).