Governance of Human Gene Editing and Transhumanism

This book focuses on the implications of the common themes and works on three urgent tasks for bioethicists. Are there common themes between transhumanism and the WHO framework for global governance of human genome editing? If yes, what are the implications of that? To find possible common themes, the author applied the reflective thematic analysis (RTA) method to a set of texts on transhumanism and a set of texts on the global governance of human genome editing. The transhumanist texts were the three documents Humanity+, the former World Transhumanist Association, calls the “original documents on transhumanism” (the Transhumanist Declaration, Transhumanist FAQ 3.0, the Transhumanist Manifesto v.4). The selected texts to represent the current global governance of human genome editing were the three documents published by WHO on the topic in 2021 (human genome editing: a framework for governance, human genome editing: recommendations, human genome editing: position paper): the only plan for the global governance of HGE to date. As a result of his application of the RTA method, he found three common themes.

What does this mean for our society? What are the implications of the current situation? What are the tasks for bioethics? There are emerging questions on the human condition and new concerns to be addressed, such as the do-it-yourself mentality. The limits of “therapy vs. enhancement” ask for serious work on a bioethical framework for enhancement. Finally, the authors question the predominant values and propose a refinement to some conceptions of autonomy, protection, and equality. Recognising the current situation and working on the identified tasks has become crucial for contemporary Bioethics.