ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Gregory Stock - Author, thinker
Dr. Gregory Stock's levelheaded look at the hotpoints where tech and ethics connect (or short circuit) have made him a popular guest on TV and radio. He directs the Program on Science, Technology, and Society at UCLA.

Why you should listen

Bestselling author and lecturer Gregory Stock examines the evolutionary significance of technological progress. His 1993 book, Metaman, looks (optimistically) toward a future where the symbiotic relationship between human culture and technology increasingly resembles a "superorganism" that can respond, as a whole, to crises like global warming. 2003's Redesigning Humans poses the alluring -- and sometimes frightening -- possibility that human biology will soon become customizable: no mere question of availability, but a matter of personal choice.

Stock's other work includes Engineering the Human Germline, which looks at the implications of controlled evolution, and a set of perpetually-bestselling tabletop conversation-starters, the flagship of which is The Book of Questions.

More profile about the speaker
Gregory Stock | Speaker | TED.com
TED2003

Gregory Stock: To upgrade is human

Filmed:
543,614 views

In this prophetic 2003 talk -- just days before Dolly the sheep was stuffed -- biotech ethicist Gregory Stock looked forward to new, more meaningful (and controversial) technologies, like customizable babies, whose adoption might drive human evolution.
- Author, thinker
Dr. Gregory Stock's levelheaded look at the hotpoints where tech and ethics connect (or short circuit) have made him a popular guest on TV and radio. He directs the Program on Science, Technology, and Society at UCLA. Full bio

Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.

00:12
The future of life, where the unraveling of our biology --
0
0
4000
00:16
and bring up the lights a little bit. I don't have any slides.
1
4000
2000
00:18
I'm just going to talk --
2
6000
3000
00:21
about where that's likely to carry us.
3
9000
2000
00:23
And you know, I saw all the visions
4
11000
4000
00:27
of the first couple of sessions.
5
15000
2000
00:29
It almost made me feel a little bit guilty about having an uplifting talk
6
17000
3000
00:32
about the future.
7
20000
2000
00:34
It felt wrong to do that in some way.
8
22000
2000
00:36
And yet, I don't really think it is
9
24000
2000
00:38
because when it comes down to it,
10
26000
2000
00:40
it's this larger trajectory that is really what is going to remain --
11
28000
4000
00:44
what people in the future are going to remember about this period.
12
32000
4000
00:48
I want to talk to you a little bit about
13
36000
3000
00:51
why the visions of Jeremy Rivkins,
14
39000
4000
00:55
who would like to ban these sorts of technologies,
15
43000
3000
00:58
or of the Bill Joys who would like to relinquish them,
16
46000
4000
01:02
are actually -- to follow those paths would be such a tragedy for us.
17
50000
5000
01:07
I'm focusing on biology,
18
55000
3000
01:10
the biological sciences.
19
58000
2000
01:12
The reason I'm doing that is because those are going to be
20
60000
3000
01:15
the areas that are the most significant to us.
21
63000
4000
01:19
The reason for that is really very simple.
22
67000
2000
01:21
It's because we're flesh and blood.
23
69000
2000
01:23
We're biological creatures.
24
71000
2000
01:25
And what we can do with our biology
25
73000
4000
01:29
is going to shape our future
26
77000
2000
01:31
and that of our children and that of their children --
27
79000
3000
01:34
whether we gain control over aging,
28
82000
2000
01:36
whether we learn to protect ourselves from Alzheimer's,
29
84000
4000
01:40
and heart disease, and cancer.
30
88000
2000
01:42
I think that Shakespeare really put it very nicely.
31
90000
4000
01:46
And I'm actually going to use his words in the same order that he did.
32
94000
3000
01:49
(Laughter)
33
97000
2000
01:51
He said, "And so from hour to hour
34
99000
3000
01:54
we ripe and ripe.
35
102000
3000
01:57
And then from hour to hour we rot and rot.
36
105000
2000
01:59
And thereby hangs a tale."
37
107000
2000
02:01
Life is short, you know.
38
109000
2000
02:03
And we need to think about planning a little bit.
39
111000
2000
02:05
We're all going to eventually, even in the developed world,
40
113000
5000
02:10
going to have to lose everything that we love.
41
118000
3000
02:13
When you're beginning to rot a little bit,
42
121000
3000
02:16
all of the videos crammed into your head,
43
124000
2000
02:18
all of the extensions that extend your various powers,
44
126000
4000
02:22
are going to being to seem a little secondary.
45
130000
4000
02:26
And you know, I'm getting a little bit gray -- so is Ray Kurzweil,
46
134000
4000
02:30
so is Eric Drexler.
47
138000
2000
02:32
This is where it's really central to our lives.
48
140000
3000
02:35
Now I know there's been a whole lot of hype
49
143000
2000
02:37
about our power to control biology.
50
145000
3000
02:40
You just have to look at the Human Genome Project.
51
148000
2000
02:42
It wasn't two years ago
52
150000
2000
02:44
that everybody was talking about --
53
152000
2000
02:46
we've found the Holy Grail of biology.
54
154000
2000
02:48
We're deciphering the code of codes.
55
156000
2000
02:50
We're reading the book of life.
56
158000
3000
02:53
It's a little bit reminiscent of 1969 when Neil Armstrong walked on the moon,
57
161000
4000
02:57
and everybody was about to race out toward the stars.
58
165000
4000
03:01
And we've all seen "2001: A Space Odyssey."
59
169000
3000
03:04
You know it's 2003, and there is no HAL.
60
172000
4000
03:08
And there is no odyssey to our own moon, much less the moons of Jupiter.
61
176000
4000
03:12
And we're still picking up pieces of the Challenger.
62
180000
3000
03:15
So it's not surprising that some people would wonder
63
183000
4000
03:19
whether maybe 30 or 40 years from now,
64
187000
3000
03:22
we'll look back at this instant in time,
65
190000
2000
03:24
and all of the sort of talk about
66
192000
3000
03:27
the Human Genome Project,
67
195000
2000
03:29
and what all this is going to mean to us --
68
197000
2000
03:31
well, it will really mean precious little.
69
199000
4000
03:35
And I just want to say that that is absolutely not going to be the case.
70
203000
4000
03:39
Because when we talk about our genetics and our biology,
71
207000
5000
03:44
and modifying and altering and adjusting these things,
72
212000
2000
03:46
we're talking about changing ourselves.
73
214000
3000
03:49
And this is very critical stuff.
74
217000
2000
03:51
If you have any doubts about how technology affects our lives,
75
219000
4000
03:55
you just have to go to any major city.
76
223000
2000
03:57
This is not the stomping ground
77
225000
2000
03:59
of our Pleistocene ancestors.
78
227000
2000
04:01
What's happening is we're taking this technology --
79
229000
3000
04:04
it's becoming more precise, more potent --
80
232000
2000
04:06
and we're turning it back upon ourselves.
81
234000
3000
04:09
Before it's all done
82
237000
2000
04:11
we are going to alter ourselves
83
239000
2000
04:13
every bit as much as we have changed the world around us.
84
241000
3000
04:16
It's going to happen a lot sooner
85
244000
2000
04:18
than people imagine.
86
246000
2000
04:20
On the way there it's going to
87
248000
3000
04:23
completely revolutionize medicine and health care; that's obvious.
88
251000
3000
04:26
It's going to change the way we have children.
89
254000
2000
04:28
It's going to change the way we manage
90
256000
2000
04:30
and alter our emotions.
91
258000
2000
04:32
It's going to probably change the human lifespan.
92
260000
2000
04:34
It will really make us question
93
262000
2000
04:36
what it is to be a human being.
94
264000
4000
04:40
The larger context of this is that are
95
268000
2000
04:42
two unprecedented revolutions that are going on today.
96
270000
6000
04:48
The first of them is the obvious one,
97
276000
2000
04:50
the silicon revolution,
98
278000
2000
04:52
which you all are very, very familiar with.
99
280000
3000
04:55
It's changing our lives in so many ways,
100
283000
2000
04:57
and it will continue to do that.
101
285000
2000
04:59
What the essence of that is, is that we're taking
102
287000
2000
05:01
the sand at our feet, the inert silicon at our feet,
103
289000
4000
05:05
and we're breathing a level of complexity into it
104
293000
2000
05:07
that rivals that of life itself,
105
295000
2000
05:09
and may even surpass it.
106
297000
3000
05:12
As an outgrowth of that, as a child of that revolution,
107
300000
3000
05:15
is the revolution in biology.
108
303000
2000
05:17
The genomics revolution,
109
305000
2000
05:19
proteomics, metabolomics, all of these "omics"
110
307000
3000
05:22
that sound so terrific on grants and on business plans.
111
310000
3000
05:25
What we're doing is we are
112
313000
5000
05:30
seizing control of our evolutionary future.
113
318000
3000
05:33
I mean we're essentially using technology
114
321000
2000
05:35
to just jam evolution into fast-forward.
115
323000
3000
05:38
It's not at all clear where it's going to take us.
116
326000
3000
05:41
But in five to ten years we're going to start see
117
329000
3000
05:44
some very profound changes.
118
332000
2000
05:46
The most immediate changes that we'll see
119
334000
2000
05:48
are things like in medicine.
120
336000
2000
05:50
There is going to be a big shift towards preventative medicine
121
338000
3000
05:53
as we start to be able to identify
122
341000
2000
05:55
all of the risk factors that we have as individuals.
123
343000
3000
05:58
But who is going to pay for all this?
124
346000
2000
06:00
And how are we going to understand all this complex information?
125
348000
4000
06:04
That is going to be the IT challenge
126
352000
3000
06:07
of the next generation, is communicating all this information.
127
355000
4000
06:11
There's pharmacogenomics, the combination of pharmacology
128
359000
2000
06:13
and genetics:
129
361000
3000
06:16
tailoring drugs to our individual constitutions
130
364000
2000
06:18
that Juan talked about a little bit earlier.
131
366000
3000
06:21
That's going to have amazing impacts.
132
369000
3000
06:24
And it's going to be used for diet as well,
133
372000
3000
06:27
and nutritional supplements and such.
134
375000
2000
06:29
But it's going to have a big impact because
135
377000
2000
06:31
we're going to have niche drugs.
136
379000
2000
06:33
And we aren't going to be able to support
137
381000
3000
06:36
the kinds of expenses that we have to create blockbuster drugs today.
138
384000
3000
06:39
The approval process is going to fall apart, actually.
139
387000
5000
06:44
It's too slow.
140
392000
2000
06:46
It's too risk-averse.
141
394000
2000
06:48
And it is really not suited for the future
142
396000
3000
06:51
that we're moving into.
143
399000
2000
06:53
Another thing is that we're just going to have to deal with this knowledge.
144
401000
2000
06:55
It's really wonderful when we hear,
145
403000
2000
06:57
"Oh, 99.9 percent of the letters in the code are the same.
146
405000
5000
07:02
We're all identical to each other. Isn't it wonderful?"
147
410000
4000
07:06
And look around you and know
148
414000
2000
07:08
that what we really care about is
149
416000
2000
07:10
that little bit of difference.
150
418000
2000
07:12
We look the same to a visitor from another planet, maybe,
151
420000
3000
07:15
but not to each other
152
423000
2000
07:17
because we compete with each other all time.
153
425000
2000
07:19
And we're going to have to come to grips with the fact
154
427000
3000
07:22
that there are differences between us as individuals that we will know about,
155
430000
3000
07:25
and between subpopulations of humans as well.
156
433000
4000
07:29
To deny that that's the case is not a very good start on that.
157
437000
4000
07:33
A generation or so away
158
441000
3000
07:36
there are going to be even more profound things that are going to happen.
159
444000
3000
07:39
That's when we're going to begin to use this knowledge to modify ourselves.
160
447000
4000
07:43
Now I don't mean extra gills or something --
161
451000
3000
07:46
something we care about, like aging.
162
454000
2000
07:48
What if we could unravel aging and understand it --
163
456000
4000
07:52
begin to retard the process or even reverse it?
164
460000
3000
07:55
It would change absolutely everything.
165
463000
2000
07:57
And it's obvious to anyone,
166
465000
2000
07:59
that if we can do this, we absolutely will do this,
167
467000
3000
08:02
whatever the consequences are.
168
470000
2000
08:04
The second is modifying our emotions.
169
472000
4000
08:08
I mean Ritalin, Viagra,
170
476000
4000
08:12
things of that sort, Prozac.
171
480000
2000
08:14
You know, this is just clumsy little baby steps.
172
482000
2000
08:16
What if you could take a little
173
484000
3000
08:19
concoction of pharmaceuticals
174
487000
3000
08:22
that would make you feel really contented,
175
490000
3000
08:25
just happy to be you.
176
493000
2000
08:27
Are you going to be able to resist that if it doesn't have any overt side effects?
177
495000
3000
08:30
Probably not.
178
498000
2000
08:32
And if you don't, who are you going to be?
179
500000
2000
08:34
Why do you do what you do?
180
502000
2000
08:36
We're sort of circumventing evolutionary programs that guide our behavior.
181
504000
3000
08:39
It's going to be very challenging to deal with.
182
507000
2000
08:41
The third area is reproduction.
183
509000
4000
08:45
The idea that we're going to chose our children's genes,
184
513000
3000
08:48
as we begin to understand what genes say about who we are.
185
516000
4000
08:52
That's the focus of my book "Redesigning Humans,"
186
520000
2000
08:54
where I talk about the kinds of choices we'll make,
187
522000
2000
08:56
and the challenges it's going to present to society.
188
524000
3000
08:59
There are three obvious ways of doing this.
189
527000
2000
09:01
The first is cloning.
190
529000
2000
09:03
It didn't happen.
191
531000
2000
09:05
It's a total media circus.
192
533000
2000
09:07
It will happen in five to 10 years.
193
535000
2000
09:09
And when it does it's not going to be that big a deal.
194
537000
3000
09:12
The birth of a delayed identical twin
195
540000
2000
09:14
is not going to shake western civilization.
196
542000
5000
09:19
But there are more important things that are already occurring:
197
547000
3000
09:22
embryo screening.
198
550000
2000
09:24
You take a six to eight cell embryo,
199
552000
3000
09:27
you tease out one of the cells, you run a genetic test on that cell,
200
555000
3000
09:30
and depending on the results of that test
201
558000
2000
09:32
you either implant that embryo or you discard it.
202
560000
3000
09:35
It's already done to avoid rare diseases today.
203
563000
3000
09:38
And pretty soon it's going to be possible
204
566000
3000
09:41
to avoid virtually all genetic diseases in that way.
205
569000
4000
09:45
As that becomes possible
206
573000
3000
09:48
this is going to move from something that is used by those who
207
576000
3000
09:51
have infertility problems and are already doing in vitro fertilization,
208
579000
3000
09:54
to the wealthy who want to protect their children,
209
582000
3000
09:57
to just about everybody else.
210
585000
2000
09:59
And in that process that's going to morph
211
587000
2000
10:01
from being just for diseases,
212
589000
2000
10:03
to being for lesser vulnerabilities,
213
591000
2000
10:05
like risk of manic depression or something,
214
593000
3000
10:08
to picking personalities,
215
596000
3000
10:11
temperaments, traits, these sorts of things.
216
599000
3000
10:14
Of course there is going to be genetic engineering.
217
602000
3000
10:17
Directly going in -- it's a little bit further away, but not that far away --
218
605000
3000
10:20
going in and altering the genes in the first cell in an embryo.
219
608000
5000
10:25
The way I suspect it will happen
220
613000
3000
10:28
is using artificial chromosomes
221
616000
2000
10:30
and extra chromosomes, so we go from 46
222
618000
3000
10:33
to 47 or 48.
223
621000
2000
10:35
And one that is not heritable
224
623000
2000
10:37
because who would want to pass on to their children
225
625000
3000
10:40
the archaic enhancement modules
226
628000
3000
10:43
that they got 25 years earlier from their parents?
227
631000
3000
10:46
It's a joke; of course they wouldn't want to do that.
228
634000
3000
10:49
They'll want the new release.
229
637000
2000
10:51
Those kinds of loose analogies with
230
639000
3000
10:54
(Laughter)
231
642000
1000
10:55
computers, and with programming,
232
643000
2000
10:57
are actually much deeper than that.
233
645000
3000
11:00
They are really going to come to operate in this realm.
234
648000
3000
11:03
Now not everything that can be done should be done.
235
651000
3000
11:06
And it won't be done.
236
654000
2000
11:08
But when something is feasible in thousands of
237
656000
2000
11:10
laboratories all over the world,
238
658000
2000
11:12
which is going to be the case with these technologies,
239
660000
2000
11:14
when there are large numbers of people who see them as beneficial,
240
662000
2000
11:16
which is already the case,
241
664000
2000
11:18
and when they're almost impossible to police,
242
666000
3000
11:21
it's not a question of if this is going to happen,
243
669000
2000
11:23
it's when and where and how it's going to happen.
244
671000
2000
11:25
Humanity is going to go down this path.
245
673000
4000
11:29
And it's going to do so for two reasons.
246
677000
2000
11:31
The first is that all these technologies
247
679000
3000
11:34
are just a spin-off of mainstream medical research
248
682000
2000
11:36
that everybody wants to see happen.
249
684000
2000
11:38
It is being funded very very --
250
686000
3000
11:41
in a big way.
251
689000
2000
11:43
The second is, we're human.
252
691000
2000
11:45
That's what we do.
253
693000
2000
11:47
We try and use our technology to
254
695000
2000
11:49
improve our lives in one way or another.
255
697000
2000
11:51
To imagine that we're not going to use these technologies
256
699000
3000
11:54
when they become available,
257
702000
2000
11:56
is as much a denial of who we are
258
704000
2000
11:58
as to imagine
259
706000
2000
12:00
that we'll use these technologies and not fret
260
708000
2000
12:02
and worry about it a great deal.
261
710000
3000
12:05
The lines are going to blur. And they already are
262
713000
3000
12:08
between therapy and enhancement,
263
716000
2000
12:10
between treatment and prevention,
264
718000
2000
12:12
between need and desire.
265
720000
3000
12:15
That's really the central one, I believe.
266
723000
3000
12:18
People can try and ban these things.
267
726000
2000
12:20
They undoubtedly will. They have.
268
728000
2000
12:22
But ultimately all this is going to do
269
730000
2000
12:24
is just shift development elsewhere.
270
732000
3000
12:27
It's going to drive these things from view.
271
735000
2000
12:29
It's going to reserve the technology for the wealthy
272
737000
2000
12:31
because they are in the best position
273
739000
2000
12:33
to circumvent any of these sorts of laws.
274
741000
3000
12:36
And it's going to deny us
275
744000
2000
12:38
the information that we need to make wise decisions
276
746000
2000
12:40
about how to use these technologies.
277
748000
3000
12:43
So, sure, we need to debate these things.
278
751000
2000
12:45
And I think it's wonderful that we do.
279
753000
2000
12:47
But we shouldn't kid ourselves
280
755000
3000
12:50
and think that we're going to reach a consensus about these things.
281
758000
3000
12:53
That is simply not going to happen.
282
761000
2000
12:55
They touch us too deeply.
283
763000
2000
12:57
And they depend too much upon history, upon philosophy,
284
765000
3000
13:00
upon religion, upon culture, upon politics.
285
768000
3000
13:03
Some people are going to see this
286
771000
3000
13:06
as an abomination,
287
774000
2000
13:08
as the worst thing, as just awful.
288
776000
3000
13:11
Other people are going to say, "This is great.
289
779000
3000
13:14
This is the flowering of human endeavor."
290
782000
4000
13:18
The one thing though that is really dangerous
291
786000
3000
13:21
about these sorts of technologies,
292
789000
3000
13:24
is that it's easy to become seduced by them.
293
792000
4000
13:28
And to focus too much on all
294
796000
2000
13:30
the high-technology possibilities that exist.
295
798000
3000
13:33
And to lose touch
296
801000
3000
13:36
with the basic rhythms of our biology and our health.
297
804000
2000
13:38
There are too many people that think that high-technology medicine
298
806000
3000
13:41
is going to keep them, save them,
299
809000
2000
13:43
from overeating,
300
811000
2000
13:45
from eating a lot of fast foods,
301
813000
2000
13:47
from not getting any exercise.
302
815000
2000
13:49
It's not going to happen.
303
817000
2000
13:51
In the midst of all this amazing technology,
304
819000
2000
13:53
and all these things that are occurring, it's really interesting
305
821000
3000
13:56
because there is sort of a counter-revolution that is going on:
306
824000
3000
13:59
a resurgence of interest in remedies from the past,
307
827000
5000
14:04
in nutraceuticals, in all of these sorts of things
308
832000
3000
14:07
that some people, in the pharmaceutical industry particularly,
309
835000
3000
14:10
like to brand as non-science.
310
838000
2000
14:12
But this whole effort is generated,
311
840000
3000
14:15
is driven, by IT as well
312
843000
3000
14:18
because that is how we're gathering all this information,
313
846000
3000
14:21
and linking it, and integrating it together.
314
849000
2000
14:23
There is a lot in this rich biota that is going to serve us well.
315
851000
5000
14:28
And that's where about half of our drugs come.
316
856000
2000
14:30
So we shouldn't dismiss this
317
858000
2000
14:32
because it's an enormous opportunity to use
318
860000
2000
14:34
these sorts of results,
319
862000
3000
14:37
or these random loose trials from the last thousand years
320
865000
3000
14:40
about what has impacts on our health.
321
868000
2000
14:42
And to use our advanced technologies
322
870000
2000
14:44
to pull out what is beneficial from this
323
872000
2000
14:46
sea of noise, basically.
324
874000
3000
14:49
In fact this isn't just abstract.
325
877000
3000
14:52
I just formed a biotechnology company
326
880000
2000
14:54
that is using
327
882000
2000
14:56
this sort of an approach to develop
328
884000
2000
14:58
therapeutics for Alzheimer's and other diseases of aging,
329
886000
3000
15:01
and we're making some real progress.
330
889000
2000
15:03
So here we are.
331
891000
2000
15:05
It's the beginning of a new millennium.
332
893000
3000
15:08
If you look forward,
333
896000
2000
15:10
I mean future humans,
334
898000
2000
15:12
far before the end of this millennium,
335
900000
3000
15:15
in a few hundred years, they are going to look back at this moment.
336
903000
2000
15:17
And from the beginning of today's sessions
337
905000
3000
15:20
you'd think that they're going to see this as this horrible
338
908000
3000
15:23
difficult, painful period
339
911000
2000
15:25
that we struggled through.
340
913000
2000
15:27
And I don't think that's what's going to happen.
341
915000
3000
15:30
They're going to do like everybody does. They are going to forget about all that stuff.
342
918000
4000
15:34
And they are actually going to romanticize this moment in time.
343
922000
3000
15:37
They are going to think about it
344
925000
2000
15:39
as this glorious instant
345
927000
2000
15:41
when we laid down
346
929000
2000
15:43
the very foundations of their lives,
347
931000
3000
15:46
of their society, of their future.
348
934000
2000
15:48
You know it's a little bit like a birth.
349
936000
4000
15:52
Where there is this bloody, awful mess happens.
350
940000
3000
15:55
And then what comes out of it? New life.
351
943000
4000
15:59
Actually as was pointed out earlier,
352
947000
3000
16:02
we forget about all the struggle there was in getting there.
353
950000
3000
16:05
So to me,
354
953000
4000
16:09
it's clear that one of the foundations of that future
355
957000
2000
16:11
is going to be the reworking of our biology.
356
959000
4000
16:15
It's going to come gradually at first. It's going to pick up speed.
357
963000
2000
16:17
We're going to make lots of errors.
358
965000
2000
16:19
That's the way these things work.
359
967000
2000
16:21
To me it's an incredible privilege
360
969000
3000
16:24
to be alive now
361
972000
2000
16:26
and to be able to witness this thing.
362
974000
3000
16:29
It is something that is a unique instant
363
977000
2000
16:31
in the history of all of life.
364
979000
3000
16:34
It will always be remembered.
365
982000
2000
16:36
And what's extraordinary is that
366
984000
2000
16:38
we're not just observing this,
367
986000
2000
16:40
we are the architects of this.
368
988000
2000
16:42
I think that we should be proud of it.
369
990000
2000
16:44
What is so difficult and challenging
370
992000
3000
16:47
is that we are also the objects of these changes.
371
995000
3000
16:50
It's our health, it's our lives, it's our future, it's our children.
372
998000
3000
16:53
And that is why they are so very troubling to so many people
373
1001000
4000
16:57
who would pull back in fear.
374
1005000
3000
17:00
I think that our choice
375
1008000
3000
17:03
in the choice of life,
376
1011000
2000
17:05
is not whether we're going to go down this path.
377
1013000
3000
17:08
We are, definitely.
378
1016000
2000
17:10
It's how we hold it in our hearts.
379
1018000
3000
17:13
It's how we look at it.
380
1021000
2000
17:15
I think Thucydides really spoke to us very clearly
381
1023000
3000
17:18
in 430 B.C. He put it nicely.
382
1026000
4000
17:22
Again, I'll use the words in the same order he did.
383
1030000
3000
17:25
"The bravest are surely those
384
1033000
4000
17:29
who have the clearest vision of what is before them,
385
1037000
3000
17:32
both glory and danger alike.
386
1040000
3000
17:35
And yet notwithstanding, they go out and they meet it."
387
1043000
4000
17:39
Thank you.
388
1047000
2000
17:41
(Applause)
389
1049000
5000

▲Back to top

ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Gregory Stock - Author, thinker
Dr. Gregory Stock's levelheaded look at the hotpoints where tech and ethics connect (or short circuit) have made him a popular guest on TV and radio. He directs the Program on Science, Technology, and Society at UCLA.

Why you should listen

Bestselling author and lecturer Gregory Stock examines the evolutionary significance of technological progress. His 1993 book, Metaman, looks (optimistically) toward a future where the symbiotic relationship between human culture and technology increasingly resembles a "superorganism" that can respond, as a whole, to crises like global warming. 2003's Redesigning Humans poses the alluring -- and sometimes frightening -- possibility that human biology will soon become customizable: no mere question of availability, but a matter of personal choice.

Stock's other work includes Engineering the Human Germline, which looks at the implications of controlled evolution, and a set of perpetually-bestselling tabletop conversation-starters, the flagship of which is The Book of Questions.

More profile about the speaker
Gregory Stock | Speaker | TED.com