Hacking Darwin by Jamie Metzl

Hacking Darwin by Jamie Metzl
I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review

"Genetic engineering isn't some far-off fantasy. It's arriving faster than most of us understand or are prepared for."

Wow! I loved this book. I picked it up and put it down several times to read other books but I kept coming back to it because every single chapter, page, and concept was absolutely fascinating. Jamie Metzl details a broad range of topics that arise when biology and technology intersect, such as:

· personalized/precision medicine
· stem cells
· exponential generational increases in IQ
· CRISPR sequences
· gene therapies
· transhumanism
· GMOs

He also posits both sides of the myriad ethical, religious, moral, and political issues that have come about now that our DNA is as "hackable as our information technology" and points out that by "retooling our own genetic code, the choices we make today will be the difference between realizing breathtaking advances in human well-being and descending into a dangerous and potentially deadly genetic arms race."

I found myself daydreaming about so many currently unthinkable scenarios (good and bad) to come, which genetic manipulations will be embraced and which will be the dividing issues, and how each scientific achievement builds on the ones before it. For example, IVF was once an impossible sounding concept but now it is a fairly common occurrence. So many possibilities....