Perfect People: the Grudge Match

Perfect people: is it a good aim? Art Caplan and Carl Elliott debate in Public Library of Science. It is fun to read but the argument is pretty much what you expect. Caplan discharges the debate as somewhat silly:

Beating up on the pursuit of perfection is silly. As Salvadore Dali famously pointed out, “Have no fear of perfection—you'll never reach it.” Critics of those who allegedly seek to perfect human beings know this. While often couching their critiques in language that assails the pursuit of perfection, what they really are attacking is the far more oft-expressed—albeit far less lofty—desire to improve or enhance a particular behavior or trait by the application of emerging biomedical knowledge in genetics, neuroscience, pharmacology, and physiology.

And Elliott responds that it isn't a conservative defense of human nature that motivates him, rather he is concerned about misplaced energies devoted to enhancement instead of more important aims; in particular Elliott is as always primarily fighting against big pharma's promotion of enhancement:

Caplan does not defend medical enhancement so much as attack its critics. Or rather, he attacks a small group of conservative critics who want to preserve “human nature.” He dispatches those critics with admirable precision, but I am not sure why he believes that group of critics includes me. My worry about enhancement technologies has little to do with human nature. My worry is that we will ignore important human needs at the expense of frivolous human desires; that dominant social norms will crowd out those of the minority; that the self-improvement agenda will be set not by individuals, but by powerful corporate interests; and that in the pursuit of betterment, we will actually make ourselves worse off.

Still, it is a fun read. And maybe it will get a few more copies of Better than Well and The Perfect Baby into circulation. Come to think of it, maybe we could stage a series of these wrestling matches ... yeah ... that's the ticket ...

Nature: Embryonic Stem Cell Research 'Lite'

Nature reports a new technique for developing cultures of hES cells, which has several implications each of which would help scientists deal with what is sure to be a very difficult four years for stem cell research. The big news is not the primary finding, that morula-stage embryos can produce stem cells. The folks who brought us "W: The Sequel" could care less what kind of embryo is destroyed; whatever it is, they're against it. The big news is what morula-stage embryo-derived stem cells could mean for harvesting of hES cells without destroying embryos:

Researchers might also use the new method to grow stem cells from morula-stage embryos that have stalled in their development and are incapable of growing into babies, suggests stem-cell researcher Jose Cibelli of Michigan State University in East Lansing. "You could remove a big obstacle from the ethical standpoint," he says.