Abstract
This contribution explores how the concept of human engineering emerged and what place it assumes in contemporary debate. The term has recently been used in discussions on a range of subjects, among which are technology, science and sports. As the number of different ways of adjusting the human body keeps growing, the idea of ‘transhumans’ is taking hold in today’s society. Although scientists generally consider it unlikely that ‘transhumans’ will become a reality in the foreseeable future, the concept still causes fear, raises hopes and leads to numerous questions. The main issue is whether or not it is ethical to interfere with the human body to such an extent. While it is certain that these kinds of changes can transform the human condition, the extent to which this is possible remains unclear.
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Notes
- 1.
The Young Academy, established in 2005, counts 50 members, which have been selected for their academic excellence and international reputation, as well as their interdisciplinary background and methodology. Since The Young Academy includes representatives from all academic disciplines, the topic of this book appeared to be an ideal topic for a collective research project. The book project was made possible through a fruitful cooperation with the Centre for Society and Genomics (CSG) at Radboud University Nijmegen, which investigates the relationship between society and genomics.
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Acknowledgments
The papers in this collection were translated from the original Dutch by students of the MA Writing, Editing and Mediating at the University of Groningen. Publication of this volume was made possible through the generous financial support of The Young Academy (De Jonge Akademie). We are very grateful to Lydia ten Brummelhuis for her careful and dedicated work in editing the final manuscript.
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Lüthy, C.H., Koops, BJ. (2013). Towards Homo Manufactus? An Introduction to this Volume. In: Koops, B., Lüthy, C., Nelis, A., Sieburgh, C., Jansen, J., Schmid, M. (eds) Engineering the Human. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-35096-2_1
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