If the human mind and body are shaped by a bunch of genes, as the decoding of the human genome seems to underscore, then biotechnologists will one day be able to change both and perhaps, in seeking to refine the imperfect human clay, will alter human nature. That prospect should be worrying a lot more people, in the view of the political theorist Francis Fukuyama, because history's central question -- that of what kind of society best suits human needs -- has been settled only if human nature remains as it is ... This article makes for a good backgrounder on Fukuyama, his career, and his books. A Dim View of a 'Posthuman Future' |