Lesson - questions for Rothman's "Book of Life Itself"

Discussion Questions
  1. Do you think we have to understand the technology to debate the ethics? Why or why not? And what is mystification in this context?
  2. What are the three areas of bioethics that Rothman sees are ripe for study and consideration?
  3. What is the difference between macro eugenics and micro eugenics?
  4. What were the main differences in public health campaigns of Tay-Sachs and sickle cell anemia?
  5. What was the role of race in terms of these illnesses? (Not which groups were more or less likely to exhibit these illnesses, but why is the role of race troubling in the context of these illnesses and campaigns?)
  6. “What makes a life worth living? And when is a life not worth living? When do we want to know our fate? And when is knowing our fate the worst possible fate? ”
  7. “Is the genome the ultimate crystal ball, the place where we will earn what fate has in store for us? Is the book of our life written, and sealed, at the moment of our conception? Or are our lives and our cancers the product of our social arrangements, of how we live our lves on this planet, of how we organize our collective and our per­sonal lives? Not long ago we looked to the environment to under­stand cancer. Now we’ve switched our attention from power lines to cell lines. ”

Comments