Due to the ongoing COVID-19 Pandemic, this event has been canceled. Thank you to all of our wonderful speakers and co-sponsors! We look forward to working with you further under better, healthier conditions.

Until then, we hope you will join in the conversation between scientists, ethicists, and others by following @SIFKnow on social media and signing up to receive updates on other SIFK events.

Original conference schedule and description below.

In light of new technologies like CRISPR, the seemingly infinite possibilities of altering the human genome have sparked ethical debate in communities across the globe. Some scholars have argued that genetic intervention into the human body is eugenics dressed up in less objectionable clothing.  Others deny any relationship between the ravaging force of 20th century eugenics and the improvements to health made possible by gene editing. This sparks a myriad of questions: were 20th century eugenics corrupted by bad science and state intervention? Do we have a moral obligation to prevent some forms of disabilities? Who gets to decide what’s a disability?  How do we make sure that the road we travel today is a good one? And then again, who decides what “good” is in the first place?

Join thirty leading international thinkers at the University of Chicago to discuss the bioethical, historical, racial, political, and economic challenges of genetic editing, and its impact on the Future of the Human.

Original Agenda

Thursday, April 30, 2020: Keynote

Friday, May 1, 2020: Sessions 1-3

Session 1 — Eugenics: Race, History and Legacy.

Session 2 — Genetic Medicine Today

Session 3 — Genetics in Politics

Saturday, May 2, 2020: Sessions 4-6

Session 4 — Genetics and Disability

Session 5 — Race after Technology

Session 6 — Religion and Ethics

Sunday, May 3, 2020: Sessions 7 and 8

Session 7 — The Economics of Genetic Research

Session 8 — Endnote

Bios for Originally Scheduled Participants