Steve Biko Centre for Bioethics, University of the Witwatersrand, Rm 312, 3rd floor, P.V. Tobias Building, Cnr Carse O'Gowrie and York Road, Parktown, Johannesburg, 2193, South Africa.
J Bioeth Inq. 2020 Jun;17(2):309-314. doi: 10.1007/s11673-020-09967-w. Epub 2020 Mar 9.
The development of gene-editing technologies, such as the clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats and associated Cas9 endonuclease (CRISPR/Cas9) system, coincides with a rapidly expanding knowledge of the role of genes in the human ageing process. This raises the prospect that, in addition to the treatment of genetic diseases and disorders, it may become possible to use gene-editing technologies to alter the ageing process and significantly extend the maximum human lifespan. Germline editing poses distinctive problems due to its implications for individual members of future, unborn generations. In this essay, I wish to home in, narrowly, on a single ethical objection to extending the lifespan of future generations by editing the human germline. The objection suggests that to extend lifespans is to unethically inflict the harm of loneliness on future people. I claim that the argument rests on assumptions that ought to be rejected.
基因编辑技术的发展，如成簇的、规律间隔的短回文重复序列和相关的 Cas9 内切酶（CRISPR/Cas9）系统，与人们对基因在人类衰老过程中作用的认识的迅速扩展相吻合。这使得人们有可能不仅利用基因编辑技术治疗遗传疾病和障碍，而且还可能改变衰老过程，显著延长人类的最大寿命。由于其对未来未出生的几代人的个体成员的影响，生殖系编辑带来了独特的问题。在这篇文章中，我希望将注意力集中在通过编辑人类生殖系来延长后代寿命的单一伦理反对意见上。该反对意见认为，延长寿命是不道德地对未来的人造成孤独的伤害。我声称，该论点基于应该被拒绝的假设。
