Genetic Engineering and the Nazis

1min Snip

00:00

Play full episode

Summary

Transcript

Episode notes

The first real life expression of godwin's law which is that a discussion on the internet will rapidly turn into discussion about the Nazis. The idea of a designer baby to make them all blonde hair blue i like hittler would do uh... such that you know that the idea of genetic engineering humans maybe they should have been thinking about that not or think about the ethical issues. Although wanting to do was to be a few dna from microbes and uh... uh... and viruses and see what happens but that's that's the kind of exaggerated response we had about that in a way nothing has changed.

Shermer and Cobb discuss: objections to genetic engineering (political, religious, cultural) • selective breeding • recombinant DNA • the ethics of genetics • patenting life • gene therapy • gene editing • CRISPR • literature and films on the dangers of genetic engineering • bioweapons • 3 Laws of Behavior Genetics and what people fear about it.

Matthew Cobb is a professor in the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Manchester. He is the author of six books: The Idea of the Brain: A History; Life’s Greatest Secret: The Race to Crack the Genetic Code; Generation; The Resistance: The French Fight Against the Nazis; Eleven Days in August: The Liberation of Paris in 1944; and Smell: A Very Short Introduction. He lives in England.