Imperatives of Governance: Human Genome Editing and the Problem of Progress

Global Observatory Co-Director Ben Hurlbut uses the etymology of governance—from an ancient Greek nautical term meaning “to steer the ship”—to discuss the course of human germline genome editing. This metaphor allows the concept of governance to capture not only its direction, but its tools, currents, and personnel. Hurlbut identifies a shortening of the ethical horizon of genetic modification over the last half-century, as bioethics has increasingly focused on the near future, specific technologies—like CRISPR—and their immediate applications. Using He Jiankui’s experiments as an exemplary case, Hurlbut emphasizes that the construction of a “science first, ethics second” approach fosters a self-fulfilling prophecy of inevitable technological application. He Jiankui had internalized this prophecy, allowing him to view his controversial research as a form of glass-breaking that would ultimately be vindicated when lagging ethics and governance finally caught up to science. In other words, science claims for itself the right to steer the ship of governance. In this way, the characterization of He as a “rogue scientist” is misleading and paves the way for other researchers to similarly presume the right to appropriate governance in the future. Hurlbut argues that the fact that the prospect of a moratorium on germline editing has become so controversial is indicative of the same logic of science racing ahead of the rest of society. He calls for a course correction toward broader and more serious reflection and deliberation.