This season on Brave New Us, we’re exploring the field of genetics, its human applications, and the ethical question that arise when we think about using this knowledge to alter the building blocks of who we are.
First up, we take a look at human enhancement. What are some of the ways this technology might be able to improve our capabilities or help us ensure that our children have particular characteristics, and why, just maybe, we ought to be cautious about doing so.
Guests appearing in the episode:
At Boston College (Boston, U.S.A.), Andrea Vicini, S.J., is Michael P. Walsh Professor of Bioethics and Professor of Moral Theology in the Theology Department; he is also affiliate member of the Ecclesiastical Faculty at the School of Theology and Ministry. M.D. and Pediatrician (University of Bologna), he is an alumnus of Boston College (S.T.L. and Ph.D.), and holds an S.T.D. from the Pontifical Faculty of Theology of Southern Italy (Naples). He is co-chair of the international network Catholic Theological Ethics in the World Church. His research and publications include theological bioethics, sustainability, global public health, new biotechnologies, and fundamental theological ethics.
Fr. Nicanor Austriaco, O.P., is a Dominican priest and a professor at Providence College, RI. His areas of expertise are the biology of cancer, aging, and programmed cell death, health care ethics and bioethics in the Catholic tradition, and philosophical and theological implications of modern evolutionary theory.
Special Thanks:
Lauren Klingman, Mackenzie Kim
“All Will Be Well” original track by Jessica Gerhardt
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