Leading Bioethicists to "Debate the Future" in Toronto

From: George Dvorsky (sentdev@hotmail.com)
Date: Mon Jul 07 2003 - 21:31:49 MDT

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    Leading Bioethicists to "Debate the Future" in Toronto

    Renowned Canadian bioethicist Margaret Somerville and controversial US
    bioethicist James Hughes will address genetic engineering, cloning, life
    extension and nanotechnology during a debate coinciding with the 61st World
    Science Fiction Convention, held this year in Toronto

    Should we genetically engineer a better human mind and body? Should we use
    cloning to reproduce? Should we strive for radical life extension? Should we
    seek the benefits of nanotechnology despite the risks?

    On Friday, August 29, 2003, members of the public can learn more about these
    issues at "Debating the Future: Bioethics from Science Fiction to Science
    Fact," an event organized by Betterhumans that is being held at the J.J.R.
    MacLeod Auditorium at the University of Toronto. The event coincides with
    the 61st World Science Fiction Convention, held this year in Toronto.

    The debate will feature Margaret Somerville, the founding director of the
    Centre for Medicine, Ethics and Law at McGill University and the
    internationally known author of The Ethical Canary: Science, Society and the
    Human Spirit.

    Somerville will be debating James Hughes, who teaches health policy at
    Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, is a leading thinker in
    "transhuman" bioethics and is the author of Cyborg Democracy: Free, Equal
    and United in the Posthuman World, to be published in 2004.

    Moderating the debate will be journalist Tim Falconer, author of Watchdogs
    and Gadflies: Activism from Marginal to Mainstream, a book about Canadian
    activists.

    Tickets to the event are $20 in advance and $25 at the door (all figures
    Canadian). Attendees will receive an information-packed booklet providing
    background on each of the issues.

    To purchase tickets and learn more about the event, including media coverage
    and sponsorship opportunities, visit
    http://www.betterhumans.com/Events/Debating_the_Future/.

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