Changing Life as We Know It – Exploring the Role of Genetic Modification and Our Understanding of Humanity, is a FASPE Symposium featuring keynote speaker Vardit Ravitsky, CEO of The Hastings Center, and panel discussions with leading bioethicists and FASPE alumni.

What are the ethical issues surrounding genetic modification? How do we define – and regulate – the line between benefit and harm? In what ways do these possibilities force us to make decisions about the value of life and impose judgments about what makes a life worth living – or even what is considered “normal”? We will discuss an example in history illustrative of the ways in which assigning genetic value engendered horrific results, wherein Nazi eugenicists and government policy makers identified those considered a genetic and financial burden on the population – and aimed through sterilization and, even (euphemistically), euthanasia to eliminate “life unworthy of life”. In what ways does this history caution us? We will focus on several scenarios wherein genetic modification presents complicated questions around intended and unintended possibilities and consequences – and ultimately how we understand what it means to be human.

The program will serve to examine the ethical issues not just within medicine, but implicated within theology (and therefore the clergy), business (the ethical implications of commercialization), law (exploring the legal/regulatory roles, including recognizing the limitations imposed by the structural irrelevance of national borders), journalism (how it is described and written about will be fundamentally important in shaping understanding), and advances and uses of technology.

The Symposium will be held on Saturday, November 16, from 9 am to 6 pm at the offices of Holland & Knight in Manhattan. Registration is required to attend this event.

Event start time: 09:00 am

Event end time: 06:00 pm