Required Reading from the President's Council on Bioethics

April 18, 2003 3:58 PM

Required Reading from the President's Council on Bioethics. Each of the readings that follow - which include poetry, short stories and more - is accompanied by a brief introduction and questions about the bioethical implications of the work. The new booklist includes James Watson, Tolstoy, Shakespeare and Ovid. Via the WSJ.
posted by turbodog (2 comments total)

Great use of literature that even a neo-conservative can understand. In this country, we've made literacy the priority in our schools and gutted the arts. In the end, our children may be able to read, but without art they won't have anything TO read.
posted by pejamo at 4:14 PM on April 18, 2003

Nice concept, but scratching the surface. Odd that they use the phrase "our brave new biotechnology" in the intro, yet omit Brave New World (and many other cloning-related SF works) from the section about cloning. That part at least seems biased anyway: the strong implication is that "to be a unique link in the branching chain of generations, distinct from our ancestors but connected to them" is culturally desirable and inevitable. Works covering the experience of identical twins/triplets/etc would be relevant also, as evidence that being a clone doesn't mean you have no unique identity.
posted by raygirvan at 5:11 AM on April 19, 2003