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Ian Explains: Will biotech breakthroughs lead to super humans?
Medical technology could lead to a new breed of super humans.
On Ian Explains, Ian Bremmer looks at the evolution of human enhancement, tracing its roots from ancient history to recent ground-breaking tools like CRISPR gene editing, AI-powered prosthetics, and brain implants. These advances hint at a future of disease eradication, independence from physical disability, and recovery from traumatic brain injury. In a few short years, they’ve radically expanded the possibilities of how technology can improve the human experience and extend our lives.
But while biotechnology has incredible, transformative potential, it also brings lots of risks. Gene editing raises the specter of designer babies, eugenics, and even the potential for militaries to create superhuman soldiers. There’s also the question of privacy and data collection, as private companies like Elon Musk’s Neuralink gain further access to our medical histories. Ultimately, we need to strike a balance between embracing biotechnology’s life-changing potential while safeguarding our values, ethics and the very idea of what it means to be human.
Watch the upcoming episode of GZERO World with Ian Bremmer on US public television this weekend (check local listings) and at gzeromedia.com/gzeroworld.
- Steven Pinker shares his "relentless optimism" about human progress ›
- CRISPR and the gene-editing revolution ›
- What is CRISPR? Gene editing pioneer Jennifer Doudna explains ›
- Scientist Jennifer Doudna on making CRISPR technology viable — and affordable — for everyone ›
- CRISPR gene editing and the human race ›
- CRISPR gene-editing tech should have limits, says Nobel laureate ... ›
Can surveillance prevent the next pandemic?
While the Munich Security Conference was dominated by discussions about the ongoing war in Ukraine, there were many other critical issues on the table as the world faces converging crises. One of them was health security, and how nations can apply the lessons of the COVID pandemic to future public health threats.
On the sidelines of the 2023 MSC, GZERO’s Tony Maciulis spoke to Francis deSouza, CEO of the biotech company Illumina, about how countries and regions can better communicate to stop the spread of new pathogens and the road ahead for the rapidly growing genomics industry.
- What We’re Watching: The perfect city, cities vs nations, the post-pandemic planning problem ›
- War in Europe is top priority at Munich Security Conference ›
- The Ugly Politics of COVID-19's Birth ›
- How the Moderna vaccine works, why it’s effective, and how it’ll be distributed ›
- Crispr Gene Editing - GZERO Media ›
- “Health is a human right”: How the world can make up progress lost to COVID - GZERO Media ›
An economic historian's biggest lesson learned from the pandemic so far
For economic historian Adam Tooze, the biggest lesson learned from COVID so far is we need to invest in a tech-driven science apparatus as insurance against a future similar public health crisis that can kill millions and wipe out 20 percent of GDP in just months, a risk we didn't take seriously enough. "We do have a magic wand, we do have the silver bullet, and we should be doubling down on that." Watch his interview with Ian Bremmer on the latest episode of GZERO World.
Watch this episode of GZERO World with Ian Bremmer:How the COVID-damaged economy surprised Adam Tooze
- The surprising history of disaster - GZERO Media ›
- Can small islands save themselves from climate change? - GZERO ... ›
- How the Moderna vaccine works, why it's effective, and how it'll be ... ›
- How will we deal with the next pandemic? - GZERO Media ›
- Geoengineering: science fiction or a solution to the climate crisis ... ›
CRISPR and the gene-editing revolution
CRISPR stands for Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats. You don't have to remember that, but you should know that this new gene editing technique can literally change life as we know it. Through CRISPR, scientists are now able to precisely edit DNA sequences in living things. They hope to be able to cure genetic diseases like sickle cell anemia and hereditary blindness. CRISPR may even be used to treat cancer and HIV. There's a darker side to CRISPR. What about engineering soldiers who can fight without fear or pain? Many argue that using CRISPR technology—for good or bad—amounts to playing God and that its use should be halted altogether. Others, like the World Health Organization, see enormous potential for the science but want to put limits on its application to prevent humanity from bringing out our own worst traits. Ian Bremmer explains what we know and don't know about the brave new world of gene editing.
Watch the episode: CRISPR gene editing and the human race
What is CRISPR? Gene editing pioneer Jennifer Doudna explains
What is CRISPR? Jennifer Doudna explains You may have heard of CRISPR, but don't know exactly what it is, or how it works. Ian Bremmer asked Jennifer Doudna, who won the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for her work on this gene-editing technology. CRISPR, she says, basically allows scientists to not only study but also make precise, targeted changes to DNA, the "code of life." Find out more in her interview on GZERO World.
Watch the episode: https://www.gzeromedia.com/crispr-gene-editing-and-the-human-race
CRISPR gene editing and the human race
Berkeley scientist Jennifer Doudna won the 2020 Nobel Prize for her work on the revolutionary gene-editing technology known as CRISPR. It has the potential to cure genetic diseases like sickle cell anemia and hereditary blindness and may even be used to treat cancer and HIV. But when it comes to editing humanity, where do we draw the line? How do we avoid falling into the same kind of dystopian nightmare outlined in Blade Runner? Doudna discussed the risks and benefits of CRISPR in an interview with Ian Bremmer on GZERO World. Also in this episode: a look at cloning our pets (speaking of going too far…).
Podcast: Gene editing tech risks and rewards: Dr. Jennifer Doudna's perspective
Listen: In a wide-ranging interview with Ian Bremmer, Nobel Prize-winning scientist Jennifer Doudna discusses her groundbreaking work on the revolutionary gene-editing technology known as CRISPR. In their conversation she explains what CRISPR is and why it has the potential to cure diseases and fend off viruses. She also talks about the limits of this technology and advocates for a global policy consensus on what limitations there should be around gene editing. Policymakers must also factor in income inequality, Doudna argues, given how expensive CRISPR currently is and the potential it has to change so many lives.
Subscribe to the GZERO World Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or your preferred podcast platform, to receive new episodes as soon as they're published.
CRISPR gene-editing tech should have limits, says Nobel laureate Jennifer Doudna
For Jennifer Doudna, who won the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for her work on CRISPR gene editing, there are some red lines we shouldn't cross (yet). The technology, she says, has "the potential to do incredible things and make incredible advances that will be beneficial to our society, but hand-in-hand with that go these large risks." One is human embryos, but that doesn't mean that in the future we shouldn't be able to use CRISPR on ourselves, for instance to protect us from diseases. Watch her interview with Ian Bremmer on GZERO World.