Nathan Gardels is the editor-in-chief of Noema Magazine. He is also the co-founder of and a senior adviser to the Berggruen Institute.
The two epoch-shifting technologies transforming the human condition as we’ve known it are artificial intelligence and gene editing.
Unlike the hyper-scaling accelerationists of AI, researchers at the frontier of the biosciences tend to harbor an admirable humility...
The narrative presents CRISPR as a revolutionary yet ethically fraught technology, emphasizing both its potential and the risks of premature application. The strongest version of this argument acknowledges the groundbreaking work of scientists like Doudna and Venter while highlighting their calls for caution. However, the piece leans heavily on authority figures to frame the debate, which could inadvertently create a "trust the experts" dynamic rather than fostering broader public engagement wit...