The Perfect Human Being Series E01 - Julian Savulescu on human enhancement

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  • Опубліковано 10 вер 2024
  • Australian philosopher and bioethicist Julian Savulescu is interviewed by Dutch journalist and philosopher Bas Heijne. Savulescu (Melbourne, 1963) is professor in philosophy and bioethics. He is specialised in ethical topics regarding genetics and reproduction. In this video, Heijne and Savulescu talk about designer babies, natural versus artificial reproduction, responsibility of parents and freedom of choice.
    Bas Heijne (1960) is a Dutch writer and interviewer. He studied English language and literature, has published numerous books and is well-known for his opinionated essays and columns in newspaper NRC Handelsblad. For the tv series De Volmaakte Mens, Heijne went on a personal quest to discover what defines 'being human' in our increasingly technological society. He interviewed philosophers, technologists and scientists around the world, in search of the future of the human species.
    This interview is an excerpt from the Dutch science programme De Volmaakte Mens (“The Perfect Human Being”), episode 1 'Designer Baby'. The six-part science series De Volmaakte Mens was broadcast on Dutch television in Spring 2015.
    More info (in Dutch only): www.vpro.nl/dev...

КОМЕНТАРІ • 51

  • @ricardomurillo5205
    @ricardomurillo5205 5 років тому +15

    So naive. He says it should not be the rich and powerful to monopolize genetically modified humans. It's the rich and powerful that own the technology!!!

    • @jingjingjiang922
      @jingjingjiang922 4 роки тому +2

      Ricardo Murillo agree.. so naive.. why would the rich power people would like to ease the gap by genetic developing the poor? The rich will just want to use it for themselves..

    • @GeorgWilde
      @GeorgWilde 3 роки тому +2

      How much better is Bezos's smartphone than your smartphone?

    • @utubekullanicisi
      @utubekullanicisi Рік тому

      Unless someone intervenes the progression of technology tells us that something like this will get cheaper and more accessible over time, and faster than you think. At first only the rich will be able to afford it, but that's also when the tech won't really be ready for the masses. Once it scales up well it will also get cheaper. It's the intervening part we should worry about, like a government intervening or a company refusing to make it cheap and increasing its profit margins instead.

  • @CSalustro
    @CSalustro 6 років тому +5

    I love the turn to pessimism right at the end. How utterly sad. I agree though; if we have the information and ability and can cut out the middle-man of hoping for better genes, why wouldn't we?

    • @angelinasouren
      @angelinasouren 6 років тому +1

      Several reasons. Because we've often gotten things wrong in the past - as Savulescu also indicates - and we've gotten ourselves in such a bad situation as a result that he thinks it will end badly for us. He believes that we can't stop this because we are fundamentally flawed beings ( see this for example: www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/aug/20/trumps-decision-to-allow-plastic-bottle-sales-in-national-parks-slammed ) and that increasing what we've been doing and engineer ourselves into what he believes are better humans is the only way out of it. He doesn't think that we'll go for it, though.
      He does not see that the opposite of what he wants, namely down-engineer ourselves massively and rapidly might actually be much more effective.
      It is our race for bigger, better, taller, more, more, more that is doing us in. Down-engineering ourselves into simpler happier beings could therefore be a much better solution. Giraffes, birds and elephants and, say, native peoples in the Amazon aren't doing the damage that he worries about so much. So if we all went back to having much simpler lifestyles... but we won't. He is right about that.
      Apparently, we've about 20 years left in which we can still turn our habitat around, by the way. Doing this does not seem to have a capacity for harm and does have the potential of massive good. It means freeing up more land for, yes, Julian, nature (hence less for financial profits that mostly increase inequality). Because the human species depends on it. Because nature is our habitat. Because we too are part of nature. Because concrete, pesticides, insecticides, non-stick coatings and plastic aren't the solutions we thought they were going to be.

    • @dod2114
      @dod2114 6 років тому

      I agree

    • @lordganderon3508
      @lordganderon3508 6 років тому

      Humans are the most sentient of all earthly beings, and for that reason, in order to flourish and conserve nature, humans must learn that in order to have the power to do so, they also need to be responsible for that power, simply put, without darkness light has nothing to illuminate, the darkness being power and the light being responsibility. darkness (power) needs light (responsibility), and light (responsibility) need something to illuminate (darkness).

    • @johnmiller7453
      @johnmiller7453 5 років тому +1

      @@angelinasouren The only healthy minded humans choose antinatalism imo. It's going to end badly and it already has throughout history ended badly.

    • @johnmiller7453
      @johnmiller7453 5 років тому +1

      @@lordganderon3508 lol

  • @Turtle1631991
    @Turtle1631991 3 роки тому +4

    I would totally agree. Once we can do something to improve someone's life and whole society it would be monstrous to not to.
    You can't convince me that world would be worse place if almost noone had IQ under 120.

    • @dakotajad4817
      @dakotajad4817 3 роки тому

      Sorry to be offtopic but does anybody know of a trick to get back into an Instagram account??
      I was dumb forgot the account password. I would love any tips you can offer me.

  • @vincentduhamel7037
    @vincentduhamel7037 6 років тому +4

    Amazing!Thank you so much for this!

  • @hazzer777
    @hazzer777 2 роки тому +5

    Would you have changed anything about your children? - hear him squirm... He's a hypocrite.

    • @Nai_is_Fly
      @Nai_is_Fly 9 місяців тому

      That’s exactly what I was thinking :/

  • @lordganderon3508
    @lordganderon3508 6 років тому +5

    I love the fact that he's Australian, this indicates that he knows what he's talking about.

    • @LaoDan13
      @LaoDan13 5 років тому

      If I would follow your syllogism I would say on the contrary that all australians don't know what they are talking about because knowing that Savulescu has a romanian gene which makes him if not a fool at least an ignorant when he says 16:49 "natural reproduction is inefficient and unsafe", then he is a product of inefficiency. I am saying this because I'm romanian and I know very well the society in which I was born and grew up and I don't want to put down all the brilliant minds that we had and still have but for sure there is something wrong with us romanians tolerating for so long all the injustice that was done by others to us as a nation. If he claims he is a philosopher I would suggest to him that all the change we need is in the mind not in the body. If we as human beings want to have more men let's say like Jiddu Krishnamurti or Alan Watts what genes should we choose?!

    • @ionescho
      @ionescho Рік тому

      He grew up in Australia but he's Romanian by ethnicity. His name Savulescu is like the majority of Romanian names that end in "escu". For example, my name is Ionescu.

  • @vladcarlan5973
    @vladcarlan5973 3 роки тому +2

    He is half romanian.

    • @almy75
      @almy75 3 роки тому

      ....and a total idiot!

  • @noname_whatsoever
    @noname_whatsoever 6 років тому +4

    A 'philosopher' aching for his own Platonic republic does not consider any systematic risks whatsoever and has no skin in the game. Prescriptions and speculation do not get more dangerous than this.

    • @johnmiller7453
      @johnmiller7453 5 років тому +2

      Nothing is more dangerous than what we have already. Let's fix it or let it go away for good.

    • @bradwalton8373
      @bradwalton8373 4 роки тому +1

      Technocrats like him destroy everything they touch

  • @hildecuvelier6674
    @hildecuvelier6674 6 років тому

    no dutch !subtitles

    • @vproextra3443
      @vproextra3443  6 років тому

      Hi Hilde Cuvelier, unfortunately, because of legal reasons the Dutch version is not visible in the Netherlands. Please check out www.vpro.nl!

  • @bradwalton8373
    @bradwalton8373 4 роки тому +2

    If this man is a philosopher, he can complete the following syllogism: 1. Human beings are the problem. 2. I am a human being. 3. Therefore....

  • @ryanmurdoch9581
    @ryanmurdoch9581 4 роки тому +3

    Steve Irwin - Danger danger danger !!!

  • @naveenadduri5091
    @naveenadduri5091 6 місяців тому

    Friend anything red

  • @robharrell-xd2pi
    @robharrell-xd2pi 6 місяців тому

    Once again we play God with our own arbitrary system of what is good

  • @ricardomurillo5205
    @ricardomurillo5205 5 років тому

    This guy says anything goes. He should move to Sierra Loene. Or any country where the biggest gun wins.

  • @ZestyAqua
    @ZestyAqua 4 роки тому

    As a female still in her reproductive years those embryos are mine. I'd like to make an informed decision. On the late end of that reproductive spectrum, never had kids. There is the chance the science could be greatly flawed. Yes, can chance it hope for the best or be informed.
    To me that should be the decision of the one in the body who will be carrying the fetus during the pregnancy and caring for it after.
    Our bodies. Our decisions. Withholding data or care overall is more the problem I see. Also, people legislating my body. Had I been given the opportunity after asking since I was 13 for a hysterectomy I would have had one. Lessen the risk of all the medical problems as well as cost all these years. Was told I should have 2 children or close to dying before a doctor will preform the procedure. It's my call not theirs. My body. Now, I still can't afford care to find out what if any cancer is growing. My baseline health or even if I can have children. The anxiety of not knowing feeling blocked for knowing about my own body to make informed decisions has caused me years of depression. Lost wages due to sick time and loss of Employment. All has been devastating.
    Now, I work at yet another job with a high deductible $1500 + premium I can't afford with my wages. Not only that if I'm going to spend $1500 + it will be for a flight to Belgium to be euthanized. I'm done. My body, my choice. I do not want to live in pain anymore or like this.
    It's no one else's call what happens to my body but, me. Is a life of medical debt slavery to wage slavery isn't a life worth living especially in pain bleeding. That torture. Many disagree but, they don't live in your body and live your life. You do. That needs to be addressed. In my case can't be unraped. Unabused. People I love many are dead. Dog ,one of them, dead.
    Likelihood of me having a family or even wanting to almost non existent. what world do they inherit? One polluted high rates of cancer on.
    Should be MY CALL not to die in agony at some random time something else chooses. We gift our animals we love a humane death, most of us. We should all be offered the same as humans. Not referring to the Nazis hate crimes of torture and murder nor previous American eugenics to euthanasia programs, no. My right to die peacefully as much as possible when I say over being forced by a court to live a life I'm outpriced living or a doctor who will put me in more medical debt. To be that is cruelty. It's torture you are doing harm. Those decision mean we are property. Slaves. In that case then property doesn't pay taxes. Life is already going to kill you. We should have a say.

    • @ZestyAqua
      @ZestyAqua 4 роки тому

      On his point about sexism and homophobia and I'll add racism. We are all skeletons walking corpses when we die doesn't energy have a gender?
      Our bodies do. I'd prefer a child of mine have humor, empathy and be resilient able to think for themselves and understand others perspectives without blindly following. If they prefer the same sex I have zero problem with that or the so called race. To me I'd be dead working in the hot sun all day, I'm a redhead have to farm at night just to survive. That's reality my skin genetic makeup doesn't allow me to live in hot sun working all day. Wouldn't force others to do the work aka slavery either. Our Civil War was only paused. Over human rights and our economic structure (that is made up invented by us, humans).
      When dead you have no body. The need to label each other seems to be driving us all crazy. At the moment I'm a human. Prefer being a red panda but, I'm not. I'm a being. Here. I love people that understand it's not ok to abuse others or molest nor rape. Those qualities in a human matter more than if they mate while here or not.
      To put it in perspective we are fighting over the bones of another extinct species, dino sludge. What will fight for our corpses and why? If our Stockmarket shutdown and people worked on their health guess what? Earth would keep spinning. Knows how doesn't depend on us we depend on it. Sky would still have stars. We would still have sun rises and sunsets until we don't. We the being as we are do not control that. We can screw up the moon. No tides earth in shambles with our toxic mindsets the greed. We are capable of splitting the Earth in half driving frequencies into the Earth per Nikola Tesla's work (which we are via the HAARP project similar ones) not understanding what we are doing being reckless for what?
      Question is are humans worth saving? Which is more important us or Earth?
      Given how destructive we have been I'm not sure I'd vote for our continued existence without seeing if we can clean up this mess we left here on our home with our shortsighted single use disposable ways.
      We should probably vote on that because WMDs were pointless to invest in it's a death not life. Exploring Thorium energy to our mindsets is slightly a better investment.
      Microbes will do the job WMDs we built are nothing microbes are smarter that's our reality. If you starve people to death while they are surrounded by food simply because they can't pay the price to live to me that's torture it's cruel. Same can be said for medical care to housing to clean water. We need it to not only survive but, thrive poisoning it with toxic runoffs from toxic companies for profit is insane it's irrational. No one wins. We aren't.
      My gender matters as a human because of my health while here. Deciding if I'll breed or not. Who I end up loving I don't see the need for a label love is fluid. Emotion has no gender. God (whatever you believe) paints in all colors. Happen to love biodiversity plus, we need it for a reason why not figure out why?
      To me life isn't a race even death. It is a dance. You can't see the music but, you feel it, you hear it.📢🎶🎵How did we decide what we couldn't see = those images? It's pretty fascinating or where our language evolved from to most of our inventions came from someone.
      The Earth doesn't need us we need Earth. As a species we have been bad guests. Now, how can we leave this less awful than we found it?
      Those questions I ask myself because I actually know one person believing in another can make a difference.
      Enable abusers you feed negative energy. Enable a Nikola Tesla you can change the world. Mostly for the better. He wanted to provide free energy sources to power the world because it is already free we didn't invent. That was his vision, I agree why? Because the person in the most remote area of the world given that took the gift might just make a breakthrough that betters us and that is worth investing in. So far we have lost sight as well as faith in humanity. Lost trust. I see why. question is can we rebuild that trust? Faith in humanity?
      I don't have that answer, yet but, it's not looking promising at this point in the Dance party.

    • @pulsarhappy7514
      @pulsarhappy7514 3 роки тому

      Very impressive comment.
      I'm too sick right now to take the time to try and answer all that, but I want you to know that I felt that.
      From another human probably on the other side of the planet, I truly hope that you'll dance with the meaning and beauty that you intend to.