06095oam 2200757Ma 450 991077996720332120190503073316.00-333-67479-00-262-25068-31-282-09981-70-262-26763-2978058538849097866120998160-585-38849-09780262267632(CKB)111036011522042(OCoLC)49569405(CaPaEBR)ebrary10225276(SSID)ssj0000519810(PQKBManifestationID)12232919(PQKBTitleCode)TC0000519810(PQKBWorkID)10497928(PQKB)10881710(SSID)ssj0000245324(PQKBManifestationID)11202465(PQKBTitleCode)TC0000245324(PQKBWorkID)10174835(PQKB)11293213(MiAaPQ)EBC3338822(OCoLC)49569405(OCoLC)60771381(OCoLC)61250285(OCoLC)475314680(OCoLC)533380727(OCoLC)646742102(OCoLC)666933497(OCoLC)722659363(OCoLC)728043736(OCoLC)756430764(OCoLC)888832189(OCoLC)961525123(OCoLC)961682498(OCoLC)961854620(OCoLC)962719379(OCoLC)962723090(OCoLC)966089053(OCoLC)970728468(OCoLC)988524098(OCoLC)991945362(OCoLC)1036861134(OCoLC)1037911923(OCoLC)1038572100(OCoLC)1045497582(OCoLC)1053038440(OCoLC)1055337472(OCoLC)1062929565(OCoLC)1081230770(OCoLC-P)49569405(MaCbMITP)6209(Au-PeEL)EBL3338822(CaPaEBR)ebr10225276(EXLCZ)9911103601152204220011207d2001 uy 0engurcn|||||||||txtccrThe shattered self the end of natural evolution /Pierre BaldiCambridge, Mass. ;London MIT Press2001©20011 online resource (260 p.) "A Bradford book."0-262-52334-5 0-262-02502-7 Includes bibliographical references and index.Machine generated contents note: 1 -- Introduction 1 -- 2 -- Science Today 7 -- The Decentering Process 9 -- The Psychology of Large Numbers 12 -- 3 -- Molecular Biology 15 -- DNA 16 -- Proteins 16 -- Genomes 17 -- The Stadium-Size Cell 22 -- Evolution 24 -- Genome Sequencing 25 -- Beyond Genome Sequencing 28 -- Biotechnology 31 -- Genomes as Computer Programs 34 -- 4 -- In Vitro Babies 37 -- In Vitro Babies 37 -- What Happens to Sex? 41 -- 5 -- Human Cloning 49 -- Cloning 49 -- Human Cloning Taboo 53 -- Cloning and Sexual Reproduction 55 -- Cloning and "Intelligence" 56 -- Cloning and Life and Death 61 -- Cloning and Identity 66 -- 6 -- Siamese Twins 71 -- 7 -- Manipulating DNA 79 -- The Extended Jurassic Park 79 -- DNA Morphing 85 -- Warping and Reversing Time 88 -- 8 -- Computers 91 -- Computations: Moore's Law 91 -- Communications: The Internet 94 -- Artificial Life 100 -- 9 -- The Last Frontier: The Brain 103 -- Why Is Pain Painful? 104 -- The Limits and Expansion of Intelligence 107 -- Sizing the Self Up 115 -- Immortality Revisited 119 -- The Distance between Selves-The "Organic" Approach 123 -- Machine Learning and Reverse-Engineering the Brain-The -- "Artificial" Approach 126 -- The New Music 130 -- 10 -- Ethics and What Can Go Wrong 135 -- Ethical Foundations 135 -- Contemporary Issues: Cloning, Embryonic Cells, and Gene Therapy 143 -- What Can Go Wrong 154 -- 11 -- The Information Space 161 -- Biology.com 161 -- The Information Space 166.AnnotationThroughout history, we have selected and manipulated the genomes of plants, animals, and even ourselves. Until now, however, such control could be exerted only at the level of the entire organism. Scientific and technological advances now allow us to manipulate genomes directly at the level of single genes and their constituents, with a speed and precision that far exceed what natural evolution has been able to achieve over the past 3.5 billion years. These advances open new possibilities for medicine, biotechnology, and society as a whole. We already have in vitro fertilization and animal cloning; in the future human cloning and the exploitation of embryonic stem cells, among other capabilities, may be routine. At the same time, we are developing machines that will surpass the human brain in raw computing power and building an interconnected world of information-processing devices that makes science fiction pale in comparison. In this book Baldi explores what it is about these phenomena that makes us so uneasy--the shattering of the human self as we know it. Through evolution our brains have been wired to provide us with an inner sense of self, a feeling that each of us is a unique individual delimited by precise boundaries. We have also been wired to reproduce ourselves in a certain way. Baldi argues that this self-centered view of the world is scientifically wrong. Its past success lies in its being an adequate model during our evolutionary bootstrapping: a world without molecular biotechnology, human cloning, and the Internet. Eventually we must come to terms with the fact that genomes, computations, and mind are fluid, continuous entities, in both space and time. The boundary between the self and the world has begun to blur and ultimately may evaporate entirely. Baldi offers not predictions but an open-eyed exploration of our current state of knowledge and the possibilities that lie ahead.End of natural evolutionGenetic engineeringGenetic engineeringMoral and ethical aspectsBIOMEDICAL SCIENCES/EvolutionBIOMEDICAL SCIENCES/GeneralGenetic engineering.Genetic engineeringMoral and ethical aspects.599.93Baldi Pierre282482OCoLC-POCoLC-PBOOK9910779967203321The shattered self3805119UNINA