Rome, Italy, Jun 2, 2004 / 22:00 pm
Sydney Brenner, biologist and winner of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize for Medicine, says many of the current attempts to “improve” the human race through genetic manipulation are “ridiculous” and he called for focus on a more effective and lasting instrument: culture.
Dr. Brenner, who helped 1962 Nobel laureate Francis Crick to decipher the genetic code, said in interview with the Swiss newspaper “NZZ am Sonntag” that “current attempts to improve the human species through genetic manipulation are not dangerous, they’re ridiculous.”
“Suppose we want a more intelligent man. The problem is we don’t exactly know which genes to manipulate,” he explained.
Brenner added that “there is only one instrument to transform humanity in a lasting way and that is culture.”