EO&B Lecture John Harris (University of Manchester) May 29th
Creating better creatures than ourselves
Dit lecture heeft reeds plaatsgevonden.
In a column in the London Times of May 17, bio ethicist John Harris uses the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill as a starting point for reflection on humanity as we know it. "Darwinian evolution has taken millions of years to create human beings; the next phase of evolution, a phase I call 'enhancement evolution', could occur before the end of the century," he writes. "The result may be the emergence of a new species that will initially live alongside us and eventually may entirely replace humankind."
Harris looks beyond the experiments being proposed at the moment to the moral imperative to create "better creatures than ourselves, longer-lived, more resistant to disease and injury, healthier and better adapted to a changing environment".
"Some of these possibilities are so radical that the creatures benefiting from them would no longer be 'human', in the way we think of it," he writes.
"The end of humanity then is not in itself a concern; making sure that those who replace us are better than we are is a huge and timely concern."
~ London Times, May 17: www.timesonline.co.uk 
John Harris is well-known for his invariably extreme libertarian and utilitarian arguments on matters of bio-ethics. His latest book, Enhancing Evolution, provides an audacious but also a fresh look at the biotechnological interventions by people.
More information:
www.tilburguniversity.nl/faculties/law/research/tilt/events/visitharris
Or contact Dr. Anton Vedder at anton.vedder@uvt.nl