As Gods: A Moral History of the Genetic Age
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- Type：Epub+TxT+PDF+Mobi
- Create Date：2022-11-14 03:19:33
- Update Date：2025-09-06
- Status：finish
- Author：Matthew Cobb
- ISBN：1541602854
- Environment：PC/Android/iPhone/iPad/Kindle
Reviews
Maria Beltrami
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The title of the book is very evocative: the moment we humans learnt to mess with the genetic code， we somehow put ourselves on the same level as God。 Now， religious implications aside， human beings have actually been messing with the genetic code of their fellow travellers， be they plants or animals， for as long as they have been such。 We have done it through selective agriculture and breeding， which have led to the appearance of new varieties and the extinction of others， for example， and we h The title of the book is very evocative: the moment we humans learnt to mess with the genetic code， we somehow put ourselves on the same level as God。 Now， religious implications aside， human beings have actually been messing with the genetic code of their fellow travellers， be they plants or animals， for as long as they have been such。 We have done it through selective agriculture and breeding， which have led to the appearance of new varieties and the extinction of others， for example， and we have also done it on ourselves through certain marriage policies。 The difference is that we can now intervene directly on the code instead of forcing it to do what we want indirectly。 So， is what humans are doing right or wrong？ What are the limits？ Is this a matter for scientists alone or should the decision to proceed in a certain way be taken by the entire human assembly？ Well， in principle I would say that it is right to make certain decisions as participatory as possible， then I remember that many very participatory decisions have led to epic disasters， and this is something that is not mentioned at all in the book。 I refer， for example， to the referendum in Italy that led to the total abandonment of nuclear policy， despite the fact that the arguments of the campaign against had no real scientific value and were based only on irrational fears。 Wanting therefore to express the real underlying flaw of the book， it is its saying that it is necessary to address the people in order to gain consensus but actually only speak to those who are able to understand the arguments。 The iconic 'strawberry 81' of twitter， for example， would not be able to understand a single word of this text， and would never be able to make a truly informed decision （I use this term paradoxically， borrowing it from the language of these people）， yet nowhere does it say that first of all， before you can have a true participatory decision， you need to bring the various 'strawberries 81' of the world to a level of education that allows them to understand the topic they are deciding on and to argue yes or no。 。。。more
Brian Clegg
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This big book is a deep dive into the history of a relatively new aspect of science - genetic modification - from the first crude steps to the sophistication of CRISPR-based gene editing。Matthew Cobb takes us through the basics of what is involved in genetic modification technically， from attempts dating back to the late 60s using a phage （a virus that attacks bacteria） to extract a gene from a bacterium up to the apparent precision of modern gene editing。 But the importance of this book is not This big book is a deep dive into the history of a relatively new aspect of science - genetic modification - from the first crude steps to the sophistication of CRISPR-based gene editing。Matthew Cobb takes us through the basics of what is involved in genetic modification technically， from attempts dating back to the late 60s using a phage （a virus that attacks bacteria） to extract a gene from a bacterium up to the apparent precision of modern gene editing。 But the importance of this book is not in giving us an increased understanding of plasmids or homologous recombination （don't biologists love vast numbers of technical terms？）， but rather in getting a clear picture of how the science of genetic modification has developed and the disputes that have taken place over the ethics of undertaking these experiments。One thing that surprised me， as someone with no familiarity with this aspect of science， was how much of the ethical concerns came from the scientists themselves。 Possibly because scientific debate tends not to be undertaken through the media， I was more familiar with protestors destroying GM crops， or politicians debating the rights and wrongs， but Cobb opens up the efforts by some within the field to have controls or even moratoria， while others wanted to forge ahead， arguing that science should not be held back。It's all interesting， but everything moves up a notch when we get on the gene editing capabilities of CRISPR， and particularly the potential and risk of using it to do germline editing on human embryos that would lead to an inheritable genetic change。 Cobb describes well the shock when this was undertaken for real by a Chinese scientist， making clear that what was done to these （now） children was nowhere near as precise and targeted as the hype around CRISPR suggests and produced 'mosaics' where not all cells had the same versions of their genes。 In referring to another CRISPR experiment， Cobb bluntly puts it 'CRISPR is described as "editing"， but this looked like someone had been using a word processor while wearing boxing gloves。' He also highlights how much the vagueness of the scientific establishment in what was and wasn't considered acceptable was part of the problem。All the way through， Cobb is even handed in that he emphasises both the potential benefits and risks of different genetic modifications。 （This was one of the damning aspects of the CRISPR experiment producing children - there were plenty of risks but no benefits。） Often， given the huge amount of hype around these technologies， it seems that things are significantly more complicated than the sales pitch suggests - and it's arguable whether the benefits are worth what has been done。 There is no doubt that much genetic work has had benefits in understanding genetics， but even widely recognised positive outcomes， such genetically modified golden rice， are shown to be mixed bags。 One little aside - I don't know if Cobb has had a bad experience with the journal Nature at some point， but he mentions them a lot， and it's rarely in a positive light。It's interesting that a number of the puffs in the blurb make a point of emphasising the depth of the research。 This is obviously true - while never getting too heavily into the science to make it unapproachable， Cobb gives us lots of detail on exactly who did what when。 This is great to an extent - but for me， it was too much。 My first instinct was to say that the book is too long - but on checking， there are only 368 （admittedly large） pages of main text。 It's more that there is so much detail that it feels long。 It's always difficult to know what to cut， especially when you've invested as much time and effort as Cobb clearly has in this book， but the manuscript would have benefited from some pruning to make it perfect。That doesn't stop this being a truly valuable book， though。 Most of us get very big picture ideas of what's going on with gene editing and other genetic modifications from the media。 Now we've got the real story。 。。。more
Emma Hinkle
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