full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Paul Knoepfler: The ethical dilemma of designer babies

Unscramble the Blue Letters


So today, I see a new eugenics kind of bubbling to the surface. It's supposed to be a kinder, gnelter, positive eugenics, different than all that past stuff. But I think even though it's foesucd on trying to ipromve people, it could have negative consequences, and it really worries me that some of the top proponents of this new eugenics, they think CRISPR is the ticket to make it happen.

So I have to admit, you know, eugenics, we talk about making better people. It's a tuogh question. What is better when we're talking about a human being? But I admit I think maybe a lot of us could argee that human beings, maybe we could use a little betterment. Look at our politicians here, you know, back in the US — God forbid we go there right now. Maybe even if we just look in the mirror, there might be ways we think we could be better. I might wish, hnoelsty, that I had more hair here, instead of baldness. Some people might wish they were taller, have a different weight, a different face. If we could do those things, we could make those things happen, or we could make them happen in our children, it would be very stcvediue. And yet coming with it would be these risks. I takled about eugenics, but there would be risks to individuals as well. So if we feorgt about enhancing people and we just try to make them healthier using genetic modification, this technology is so new and so powerful, that by accident we could make them sekicr. That easily could hpapen. And there's another risk, and that is that all of the legitimate, important genetic mtdiifoaiocn research going on just in the lab — again, no isertent in dsgineer babies — a few people going the designer baby route, things go badly, that entire field could be damaged.

Open Cloze


So today, I see a new eugenics kind of bubbling to the surface. It's supposed to be a kinder, _______, positive eugenics, different than all that past stuff. But I think even though it's _______ on trying to _______ people, it could have negative consequences, and it really worries me that some of the top proponents of this new eugenics, they think CRISPR is the ticket to make it happen.

So I have to admit, you know, eugenics, we talk about making better people. It's a _____ question. What is better when we're talking about a human being? But I admit I think maybe a lot of us could _____ that human beings, maybe we could use a little betterment. Look at our politicians here, you know, back in the US — God forbid we go there right now. Maybe even if we just look in the mirror, there might be ways we think we could be better. I might wish, ________, that I had more hair here, instead of baldness. Some people might wish they were taller, have a different weight, a different face. If we could do those things, we could make those things happen, or we could make them happen in our children, it would be very _________. And yet coming with it would be these risks. I ______ about eugenics, but there would be risks to individuals as well. So if we ______ about enhancing people and we just try to make them healthier using genetic modification, this technology is so new and so powerful, that by accident we could make them ______. That easily could ______. And there's another risk, and that is that all of the legitimate, important genetic ____________ research going on just in the lab — again, no ________ in ________ babies — a few people going the designer baby route, things go badly, that entire field could be damaged.

Solution


  1. happen
  2. sicker
  3. interest
  4. tough
  5. forget
  6. agree
  7. gentler
  8. designer
  9. seductive
  10. talked
  11. improve
  12. focused
  13. modification
  14. honestly

Original Text


So today, I see a new eugenics kind of bubbling to the surface. It's supposed to be a kinder, gentler, positive eugenics, different than all that past stuff. But I think even though it's focused on trying to improve people, it could have negative consequences, and it really worries me that some of the top proponents of this new eugenics, they think CRISPR is the ticket to make it happen.

So I have to admit, you know, eugenics, we talk about making better people. It's a tough question. What is better when we're talking about a human being? But I admit I think maybe a lot of us could agree that human beings, maybe we could use a little betterment. Look at our politicians here, you know, back in the US — God forbid we go there right now. Maybe even if we just look in the mirror, there might be ways we think we could be better. I might wish, honestly, that I had more hair here, instead of baldness. Some people might wish they were taller, have a different weight, a different face. If we could do those things, we could make those things happen, or we could make them happen in our children, it would be very seductive. And yet coming with it would be these risks. I talked about eugenics, but there would be risks to individuals as well. So if we forget about enhancing people and we just try to make them healthier using genetic modification, this technology is so new and so powerful, that by accident we could make them sicker. That easily could happen. And there's another risk, and that is that all of the legitimate, important genetic modification research going on just in the lab — again, no interest in designer babies — a few people going the designer baby route, things go badly, that entire field could be damaged.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
designer babies 10
genetic modification 8
genetically modified 5
crispr technology 4
human genetic 4
designer baby 3
genetic modifications 2
human embryos 2
gm kids 2
health care 2
modified humans 2
swiss army 2
army knife 2
baby number 2
stuffy nose 2

ngrams of length 3

collocation frequency
human genetic modification 3
genetically modified humans 2
swiss army knife 2

Important Words


  1. accident
  2. admit
  3. agree
  4. babies
  5. baby
  6. badly
  7. baldness
  8. beings
  9. betterment
  10. bubbling
  11. children
  12. coming
  13. consequences
  14. crispr
  15. damaged
  16. designer
  17. easily
  18. enhancing
  19. entire
  20. eugenics
  21. face
  22. field
  23. focused
  24. forbid
  25. forget
  26. genetic
  27. gentler
  28. god
  29. hair
  30. happen
  31. healthier
  32. honestly
  33. human
  34. important
  35. improve
  36. individuals
  37. interest
  38. kind
  39. kinder
  40. lab
  41. legitimate
  42. lot
  43. making
  44. mirror
  45. modification
  46. negative
  47. people
  48. politicians
  49. positive
  50. powerful
  51. proponents
  52. question
  53. research
  54. risk
  55. risks
  56. route
  57. seductive
  58. sicker
  59. stuff
  60. supposed
  61. surface
  62. talk
  63. talked
  64. talking
  65. taller
  66. technology
  67. ticket
  68. today
  69. top
  70. tough
  71. ways
  72. weight
  73. worries