Leading Bioethicists to "Debate the Future" in Toronto

Renowned Canadian bioethicist Margaret Somerville and controversial US bioethicist James Hughes will address genetic engineering, cloning, life extension and nanotechnology during a debate coinciding with the 61st World Science Fiction Convention, held this year in Toronto

(PRWEB) July 7, 2003 -- Should we genetically engineer a better human mind and body? Should we use cloning to reproduce? Should we strive for radical life extension? Should we seek the benefits of nanotechnology despite the risks?

On Friday, August 29, 2003, members of the public can learn more about these issues at "Debating the Future: Bioethics from Science Fiction to Science Fact," an event organized by Betterhumans that is being held at the J.J.R. MacLeod Auditorium at the University of Toronto. The event coincides with the 61st World Science Fiction Convention, held this year in Toronto.

The debate will feature Margaret Somerville, the founding director of the Centre for Medicine, Ethics and Law at McGill University and the internationally known author of The Ethical Canary: Science, Society and the Human Spirit.

Somerville will be debating James Hughes, who teaches health policy at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, is a leading thinker in "transhuman" bioethics and is the author of Cyborg Democracy: Free, Equal and United in the Posthuman World, to be published in 2004.

Moderating the debate will be journalist Tim Falconer, author of Watchdogs and Gadflies: Activism from Marginal to Mainstream, a book about Canadian activists.

Tickets to the event are $20 in advance and $25 at the door (all figures Canadian). Attendees will receive an information-packed booklet providing background on each of the issues.

To purchase tickets and learn more about the event, including media coverage and sponsorship opportunities, visit http://www.betterhumans.com/Events/Debating_the_Future/.