Thursday, March 18, 2021

The Code Breaker

 Many of my thoughts lately are directed to a new book - The Code Breaker, by Walther Isaacson. It speaks to genetic codes, not the codes of wartime that we might think of. Two women, the American scientist Jennifer Doudna and the French scientist Emmanuelle Charpentier won the Nobel Prize for their work in gene editing. Using the technology, someone’s disease might be cured, but it could also bring genetic changes that can be inherited and passed along. The Russian leader Putin has reportedly given a speech as to how a new class of soldiers could be developed with such strengths as bravery, resistance to radiation, etc. bred into them. The huge question of ethics arises. Walter Isaacson writes in-depth biographies in this vein: da Vinci, Steve Jobs, Einstein, Benjamin Franklin, Kissinger, plus more.


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