The Wild Ethics Of Human Genetic Enhancement - Dr Jonathan Anomaly - #598

Modern Wisdom

Chris Williamson

Health & Fitness, Society & Culture

4.6 • 5.9K Ratings

🗓️ 6 March 2023

⏱️ 118 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Dr Jonathan Anomaly is a philosopher who writes about the social implications of emerging biotechnologies, teaches classes in ethics and game theory, and helped design the Philosophy, Politics and Economics program at Duke University. The ability to select from potential embryos is already here. Soon, we will be able to select for height, intelligence, personality types, moral disposition, athletic ability and maybe even enhance traits which aren't present. This creates a vortex of complex ethics around one of the most contentious topics on the internet - genetics. So I decided to dive in. Expect to learn just what the current technology of embryo selection can achieve right now, whether opting to not genetically enhance your child is an unethical practise, the dangers of creating massive societal inequality, why you are already a eugenicist, whether genetic interventions are morally different from environmental ones and much more... Sponsors: Get 10% discount on all Gymshark’s products at https://bit.ly/sharkwisdom (use code: MW10) Get a Free Sample Pack of all LMNT Flavours with your first box at https://www.drinklmnt.com/modernwisdom (automatically applied at checkout) Go to my sponsor https://betterhelp.com/modernwisdom for 10% off your first month of therapy with BetterHelp and get matched with a therapist who will listen and help Timestamps: (00:00) Intro (00:40) What We Misunderstand About Eugenics (08:58) The Difference Between Eugenics & Genetic Enhancement (17:43) The Morals of IVF & Genetic Variants (28:18) Societal Objections to Eugenics (33:21) Are Genetic Interventions Morally Different to Environmental Interventions (38:37) What Are Our Current Genetic Enhancement Capabilities? (42:50) Are Human Males Redundant? (54:54) The Most Desirable Characteristics to Enhance (1:04:50) Will People Be Able to Select for Attractiveness? (1:17:16) Possible Negative Impacts of Eugenics on Society (1:28:43) Will Eugenics Create a Higher Class? (1:35:35) The Reality of Behavioural Genetics & Heritability (1:39:47) Is it Our Moral Obligation to Have Children? (1:51:39) Where to Find Dr Anomaly Extra Stuff: Check out Dr Anomaly's website - https://jonathan-anomaly.com/ Read Dr Anomaly's papers - https://philpapers.org/ Get my free Reading List of 100 books to read before you die → https://chriswillx.com/books/ To support me on Patreon (thank you): https://www.patreon.com/modernwisdom - Episodes You Might Enjoy: This Is How To Master Your Life - David Goggins - #577: ⁠⁠⁠lnkfi.re/SN-Goggins⁠⁠⁠ How To Destroy Your Negative Beliefs - Dr Jordan Peterson - #712: ⁠⁠⁠lnkfi.re/SN-Peterson⁠⁠⁠ The Secret Tools To Hack Your Brain - Dr Andrew Huberman - #700: ⁠⁠⁠lnkfi.re/SN-Huberman⁠⁠ - Get in touch. Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chriswillx Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/chriswillx YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/modernwisdompodcast Email: https://chriswillx.com/contact/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello friends, welcome back to the show. My guest today is Dr Jonathan Anomaly. He's a
0:05.6	philosopher who writes about the social implications of emerging biotechnologies, teaches classes
0:10.7	in ethics and game theory and help design the philosophy, politics and economics program
0:15.2	at Duke University. The ability to select from potential embryos is already here.
0:20.7	Soon we will be able to select for height, intelligence, personality types, moral disposition,
0:26.0	athletic ability and maybe even enhance traits which aren't present. This creates a vortex
0:32.5	of complex ethics around one of the most contentious topics on the internet, genetics.
0:37.9	So as is tradition, I decided to dive in. Expect to learn just what the current technology
0:43.3	of embryo selection can achieve right now, whether opting to not genetically enhance your child
0:48.8	is an unethical practice, the dangers of creating massive social inequality, why you are already a
0:55.1	eugenicist, whether genetic interventions are morally different from environmental ones,
1:00.4	and much more. This conversation touches on a number of topics that are incredibly unpopular
1:07.6	on the internet from heritability to behavioral genetics, we discuss the history of eugenics and
1:12.6	embryo selection and genetic enhancement. And I praise Johnny for deciding to be close to the
1:18.4	forefront of one of the spiciest discussions that you can have online. I really think that you're
1:24.4	going to love this one, it's absolutely fascinating. This technology is here, it's not slowing down,
1:29.2	more people are going to use it and it is crucial that everybody understands what it's going to do.
1:35.2	Also don't forget you might be listening but not subscribed and if you want to support the show
1:39.7	and make me very happy and ensure that you don't miss episodes when they go live, just press
1:43.9	the subscribe button, that is the only thing that I would ask of you. I thank you.
1:49.0	In other news, this episode is brought to you by Jim Shark. My number one shorts, I have won
1:55.8	every different type of shorts from every different sports company that I cared to try on
	...

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