Hacking Darwin: Genetic Engineering and the Future of Humanity

While I pay casual attention to news stories about genetic technology, I had never put it all together to see that this is an inflection point for the whole human race. In Hacking Darwin, Jamie Metzl distills the science down so we can understand it and then highlights the questions we ought to asking ourselves. It is fascinating to see, for the first time, the whole different approach to reproduction and genetic selection that is likely going to be my own children's reality, or at the very least, my grandchildren's experience. I highly recommend this funny, insightful and important book!

Like it or not, the world is changing rapidly. Jamie Metzl is an accomplished writer, a geopolitical analyst and speaker and an original thinker. His book, Hacking Darwin, might just be a road map to the future of genetic engineering and is a must read for anyone interested in the possibility of creating a species of humans engineered to preplanned specifications. This new and quickly emerging technology can be used to improve our world, lengthen our lives, eliminate disease and generally improve the lives of our species in the future. It could also be used to create a super species that may, one day, try to control the world. Hacking Darwin is filled with easy to understand advances that gives the reader the basic groundwork to understand and, hopefully, contribute to the discussions and decisions that will be made as we learn to use this technology in our scientific planning of tomorrow.

This is a worthwhile narrative of current trends/status in the fields of ivf, genetic testing, and genetic modification. The author reviews the many potential benefits of reduced personal and community costs of genetic diseases. He also points out many of the areas of social conflict that will likely occur as technology develops to increase probabilities of enhanced intelligence, height, and specific personality traits develop. What choices will we make? A thoughtful read that illuminates the near future. What choices should we make?

This is a terrific book. By the time I got to Chapter 3, I was ready to have a dinner party with all of my grown children and to read this chapter to them. I can almost imagine them weighing in on how they would go about making these genetic decisions and what their criteria would be. There is a mythical father-to-be in the book who weighs each of his decisions against his own value system, the mores of his parent's generation and those of his future offspring. It provides a great opportunity for self reflection in a new time. it is filled with all the evolving scientific information that is or will soon be needed to make those decisions.

Immensely riveting. This book provides a look into the future based on the advancement in genetic engineering. It is packed with insight and background that allows the reader/listener to understand the complex concepts and techniques of genetic engineering. The author skillfully presents these advancements in a manner that is thought provoking, personal and even occasionally frightening.I got the Audio Book. The narration by Eric Jason Martin is absolutely superb! Highly Highly Recommend if you have interest in genetics and the human species.

This is a fascinating look at the acceleration of science in our world today, and how our often shallow laws of morality create obstacles for discovering cures for disease and the improvement of our quality of life. This would be a great book club addition for a relatively intellectual group. I hated science in school, yet I found this captivating and I now feel capable of having an opinion about the direction of stem cell research and gene therapy.

I'm not a science fan .. I found the book well-written but ponderous and I kept falling asleep every time I attempted to read it. I'm about half-way through and it's taken me 3 weeks to get that far. If it wasn't a choice for our Book Group I'd stop reading it.

Lots of thoughtful analysis on where genetic engineering is and where it's going.Preimplantation genetic testingChoosing this or that embryoThere are serious questionsHow far will we go?And then there’s gene editingCan we use the CRISPR knifeIf it’s the only hopeTo save a life?Or screen out a deadly disease?Some might argue it’s rightMessing with nature? Playing God?And then there’s the abortion fightChoosing an embryo that’s “best”?If each is a human lifeAre we murdering the rest?As knowledge and abilitiesGrow exponentiallyThe questions explodeWith equal intensity