Paul Knoepfler: The ethical dilemma of designer babies
保羅.諾福: 訂製嬰兒進退兩難的道德問題
Paul Knoepfler is a biomedical scientist and writer focusing on stem cells and genetics. Full bio
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那會發生甚麼事?
to go down that road together?
決定一起合作完成呢?
friends and coworkers
那又會如何呢?
Marianne, next to you,
consciously made that decision,
they kind of look down on you.
讓人有點瞧不起你。
a Luddite or a technophobe.
或排斥科技產品的人。
who lives right next door,
就住在你家隔壁,
designer baby with numerous upgrades.
而且升級了很多功能。
modification technology
hired to do this
into a whole panel of human embryos.
使用 CRISPR 技術,
that little tiny embryo, Jenna's embryo,
in your living room
each other for years now,
she's smarter than you,
又有運動細胞,
a whole new generation
than their parents' generation,
那個世代的人更健康,
of health conditions,
this sort of unsettling feeling,
just not quite right about Jenna,
about other GM kids that you've met.
基改小孩都有同樣的感受。
in the newspaper earlier this week
who were born as designer babies
and narcissism.
from Jenna's family.
to a special school,
than your daughter Marianne,
your family into a disarray.
to kiss her goodnight,
even be my friend anymore?"
「爸爸,珍娜不會再跟我做朋友了嗎?」
this imagined 2030 story,
2030年想像出來的場景,
that I may have put some of you
frame of reference. Right?
in Halloween mode of thinking.
a possible reality for us,
在那個實境當中找到自己,
on what we decide to do today.
kind of thinking in sci-fi mode,
had a huge shock earlier this year,
科學界發生的重大事件,
doesn't even know about it.
of genetically modified human embryos.
人類基改胚胎。
this new CRISPR technology.
they sort of cracked the door ajar
are going to run with this technology
may hold up your hands and say,
你們有些人可能會想舉手說,
and create a designer baby."
including my country, the US,
so in theory, you could do it.
所以理論上,你可以做。
this year that resonates in this area,
重要的事件發生,
not so far from here over in the UK.
has been the strictest country
genetic modification.
增訂了一條豁免條款。
of genetically modified humans
to prevent a rare kind of genetic disease.
罕見基因疾病這樣的崇高目的。
these events are pushing us
about this CRISPR technology.
that we're all more familiar with,
is similar to the technologies
a genetic Swiss army knife.
is kind of like a magnifying glass
DNA 片段剪下來。
the genetic code in that location.
重新編寫基因碼。
on the scene just three years ago,
so freaking exciting to scientists,
and we use it in my own lab,
我們也會在自己的實驗室裡使用它,
is going to go that extra step
literally have this in hand today,
in designer babies.
並不感到興趣。
going on with CRISPR.
有關 CRISPR 技術方面的應用。
now do genetic modifications
and cost millions of dollars
好幾百萬的基改工程,
for a couple thousand bucks,
幾千美金就能辦到,
這真的太神奇了,
so much on science.
to be driving them.
or the chase for a profit.
for designer babies.
if we go back two centuries,
profoundly have impacted humanity,
深深地引響著人類,
a social Darwinism at work in our world,
似乎是由社會達爾文主義運作,
在影響著這個世界。
of this CRISPR technology
one century to the last century
and he was born here in 1929.
had little baby Peter,
of the eugenics equation.
home for generations,
but they were heartbroken,
ever really got over leaving Vienna.
gentler, positive eugenics,
on trying to improve people,
擺在改進人類,
of this new eugenics,
頂尖人士認為,
to make it happen.
訂製嬰兒的入門票。
about making better people.
about a human being?
we think we could be better.
更好看一點的方法。
more hair here, instead of baldness.
我會希望這邊頭髮多點,不要禿頭。
we could make those things happen,
我們就一定能辦到,
in our children,
would be these risks.
to individuals as well.
healthier using genetic modification,
來讓人類更健康這件事,
we could make them sicker.
important genetic modification research
the designer baby route,
an interest in genetic modification.
like they have lower health care costs,
may start trying to compel their citizens
the birth of 400 million human beings.
could be something that governments push.
are thought to be fashionable,
跟得上流行的腳步,
the new glitterati,
that we really could control?
about genetic modification,
or invoked more than anything else,
and all this other stuff.
被很多人懷疑的東西等等,
and we think about it in the human context
想像人類有這麼一天,
costume their children genetically,
a Frankenstein 2.0 kind of situation?
人類「自掘墳墓2.0版本」的情節?
it's going to get to that extreme.
走到那樣極端的地步。
hacking the human code,
竄改人類的基因編碼,
in terms of what might come of that.
of transformative science
basically go out of control
and that is in vitro fertilization.
Louise Brown was born,
路易斯布朗誕生了,
five million IVF babies have been born,
大約有500萬個試管嬰兒誕生,
in four decades,
from a new technology
and designer babies.
we make in the next few months,
of genetically modified humans.
because if we, you in the audience, or I,
台下的你或者是我...
be genetically modified, and so on,
with human genetic modification?
應該怎麼走才是正確的?
creating genetically modified people,
and too unpredictable.
for me to say that in public,
self-regulation and things like that.
自我設限或自我規範之類的。
我們還要再等等,
who not only disagree with me,
full speed ahead,
to follow in the next few months,
there may be no moratorium.
of the problem that we have
applying to humans,
this is a revolution,
in very personal ways.
is actually to change that
可以改變這件事,
that there will be a role for the public
能有大眾參與的空間,
to 2030 again, that imagined story,
we make, again, today --
我再說一遍,今日——
the next year or so,
is spreading like wildfire.
野火般地蔓延開來了。
the sort of traditional route,
the place like mine.
are kind of swinging like this,
but compare them, right?
they're a better student,
you need to wipe.
might you make next time?
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Paul Knoepfler - BiologistPaul Knoepfler is a biomedical scientist and writer focusing on stem cells and genetics.
Why you should listen
Dr. Paul Knoepfler loves stem cells. He is working to figure out how we use safely them to treat many diseases and how stem cells sometimes turn to the dark side to cause cancer. Over the years he has made key discoveries about how stem cells and cancer are programmed. Now he is especially interested in how to hack these cells to control their behavior, including using powerful CRISPR genetic modification technology.
Knoepfler has also been a leading voice in the discussion about how CRISPR could be used to make designer babies and the risks of going down that path. He is a professor of cell biology and anatomy at UC Davis School of Medicine in California, where he both does research and teaches. In addition, he is a prolific writer including his popular science blog, The Niche, and two books: Stem Cells: An Insider's Guide and GMO Sapiens: The Life-Changing Science of Designer Babies. He is excited about contributing to efforts to build an innovative, global community of interconnected people with a shared passion for biomedical science and battling fake science. Knoepfler’s outspoken, approachable nature in tackling some of the most transformative questions in science has made him a go-to scientist for journalists and ordinary people across the globe.
Paul Knoepfler | Speaker | TED.com