Paul Knoepfler: The ethical dilemma of designer babies
保罗·俄福勒: 设计婴儿的道德困境
Paul Knoepfler is a biomedical scientist and writer focusing on stem cells and genetics. Full bio
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to go down that road together?
婴儿设计的项目,那会怎么样?
真是一个不怎么样的想法呢,
friends and coworkers
家人朋友还有同事,
Marianne, next to you,
她就是我们说的“自然人”,
consciously made that decision,
让你们的女儿成为“自然人”,
they kind of look down on you.
(反对技术进步的人),
a Luddite or a technophobe.
who lives right next door,
珍娜就住在你们隔壁。
designer baby with numerous upgrades.
基因改造设计出来的婴儿,
modification technology
(基因编辑技术,因音近crisp顾译为脆脆鲜)
hired to do this
into a whole panel of human embryos.
引入到了一个完整的人类胚胎层面。
that little tiny embryo, Jenna's embryo,
珍娜的胚胎
实实在在的人了。
in your living room
each other for years now,
she's smarter than you,
就会承认她甚至比你还要聪明,
a whole new generation
现在已经有新一代的儿童
than their parents' generation,
of health conditions,
this sort of unsettling feeling,
just not quite right about Jenna,
about other GM kids that you've met.
有了同样的感觉。
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.
准备亲吻她说晚安的时候,
to kiss her goodnight,
还会是我的好朋友吗?”
even be my friend anymore?"
this imagined 2030 story,
描述的2030故事一样,
that I may have put some of you
参照框架。是吗?
frame of reference. Right?
万圣节晚上的思考模式。
in Halloween mode of thinking.
a possible reality for us,
on what we decide to do today.
kind of thinking in sci-fi mode,
科学界有一个爆炸性的新闻,
had a huge shock earlier this year,
doesn't even know about it.
经过基因改造的人类胚胎。
of genetically modified human embryos.
this new CRISPR technology.
他们打开了那个微开着的门
they sort of cracked the door ajar
are going to run with this technology
会更加努力地研究这项技术
may hold up your hands and say,
你们有些人可能会举手说
创造出了一个设计婴儿。”
and create a designer baby."
你考虑的很对。
这项研究是不被允许的。
including my country, the US,
包括我的国家,美国,
所以从理论上来说,设计婴儿是可以的。
so in theory, you could do it.
this year that resonates in this area,
在整个领域引起了强烈反响,
not so far from here over in the UK.
has been the strictest country
一直是最严格的国家,
genetic modification.
of genetically modified humans
to prevent a rare kind of genetic disease.
these events are pushing us
这些事件综合起来是在推动我们
about this CRISPR technology.
that we're all more familiar with,
我们对转基因都很熟悉,
is similar to the technologies
基因型的军用瑞士刀。
a genetic Swiss army knife.
is kind of like a magnifying glass
的GPS(全球卫星定位系统),
可以被编辑到特定的DNA区域。
对遗传密码重新编辑。
the genetic code in that location.
on the scene just three years ago,
so freaking exciting to scientists,
科学家对此真是兴奋异常,
我自己的实验室里也在使用这项技术,
and we use it in my own lab,
is going to go that extra step
literally have this in hand today,
虽然对设计婴儿都不太感兴趣,
in designer babies.
有很多好的研究。
going on with CRISPR.
now do genetic modifications
and cost millions of dollars
几星期和几千块的基因编辑,
for a couple thousand bucks,
是个天大的好事,
so much on science.
to be driving them.
或者说是对利益的追求。
or the chase for a profit.
for designer babies.
我们现在的人性
if we go back two centuries,
profoundly have impacted humanity,
还在被一个社会达尔文学
a social Darwinism at work in our world,
这些人的力量,
强大而又广泛的推力
of this CRISPR technology
one century to the last century
我们只需要聚焦一百年前,上个世纪
and he was born here in 1929.
had little baby Peter,
of the eugenics equation.
尽管维也纳是他们三人的小家,
home for generations,
but they were heartbroken,
但活得很痛苦,
我的父亲是否放下了对维也纳的不舍。
ever really got over leaving Vienna.
更加友好、温和、积极的优生学,
gentler, positive eugenics,
on trying to improve people,
是为了将人类变得更好,
of this new eugenics,
是让新优生学发生的唯一重要因素。
to make it happen.
也就是优生学,
about making better people.
对于“更好”的定义是什么?
about a human being?
我们俄福勒家族的人到美国去了。
让镜子里的那个人变得更好。
we think we could be better.
我在这有更多的头发而不是秃顶。
more hair here, instead of baldness.
会希望他们的个子更高一些,
不一样的面孔。
we could make those things happen,
那我们刚刚设想的就都能实现,
能在我们的孩子身上实现,
in our children,
would be these risks.
to individuals as well.
将人类变得更健康的话,
healthier using genetic modification,
we could make them sicker.
这项技术的功能就无法完全发挥。
没有兴趣的前提下,
important genetic modification research
都是在实验室里完成的——
the designer baby route,
an interest in genetic modification.
他们不再需要高昂的医疗保健费用,
like they have lower health care costs,
may start trying to compel their citizens
the birth of 400 million human beings.
并不是一个理想化的存在,
could be something that governments push.
顺利实行的。
are thought to be fashionable,
the new glitterati,
that we really could control?
about genetic modification,
or invoked more than anything else,
(科幻小说中人物)。
and all this other stuff.
就是那些转基因食品什么的。
带入到人类环境的氛围中想想,
and we think about it in the human context
用基因来“装扮”自己的孩子的话,
costume their children genetically,
就是2.0版的弗兰肯斯坦了。
a Frankenstein 2.0 kind of situation?
it's going to get to that extreme.
会到弗兰肯斯坦这么极端的状况,
是黑了人类代码的时候,
hacking the human code,
都应该停止了。
in terms of what might come of that.
或者是那些革命性的科学,
of transformative science
basically go out of control
and that is in vitro fertilization.
我应该可以确定就是四十年前,
第一个试管婴儿出生了,
Louise Brown was born,
通过试管受精的婴儿出生了,
five million IVF babies have been born,
有机会爱他们的孩子。
在短短四十年间,
in four decades,
是用一种新的技术生出来的,
from a new technology
只要我们接受婴儿设计。
and designer babies.
或者是未来几年当中
we make in the next few months,
of genetically modified humans.
because if we, you in the audience, or I,
因为如果我们
如果我们决定拥有一个设计婴儿,
be genetically modified, and so on,
被基因编辑了的,
也是有很大区别的。
考虑到了这么多问题,
关于这个问题
这个问题做一个细致的讨论。
怎么走才是正确的?
with human genetic modification?
基因编辑的人类被创造出来,
creating genetically modified people,
并且一切都是未知的。
and too unpredictable.
很多人作为一个科学家,
公共场合这样说是一个很可怕的事,
for me to say that in public,
是自我调节那么简单。
self-regulation and things like that.
who not only disagree with me,
full speed ahead,
to follow in the next few months,
there may be no moratorium.
一部分就是
of the problem that we have
基因编辑的革命,
applying to humans,
有一场革命呢,
this is a revolution,
方方面面产生影响。
in very personal ways.
is actually to change that
就是改变这个现状,
that there will be a role for the public
能够给公众一个位置,
to 2030 again, that imagined story,
回到那个假设故事里的2030年,
we make, again, today --
我们并没有多少做决定的时间了——
the next year or so,
is spreading like wildfire.
the sort of traditional route,
就好像我的一样到处都是。
the place like mine.
are kind of swinging like this,
把他们作比较,对吧?
but compare them, right?
they're a better student,
you need to wipe.
你会怎么选择?
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