Self-Invention

While artificial intelligence ("AI") deservedly dominates the headlines, another branch of technology is experiencing its own spectacular efflorescence:  biotechnology.  No one communicates the excitement and importance of the life sciences as elegantly and authoritatively as Dr. Matt Ridley, who, among many other accomplishments, received his doctorate in biology amidst the dreaming spires of the University of Oxford.  In a masterful article, provocatively entitled "Crispr gave humans the power to remake ourselves. What will we do with it? - On June 28, 2012, the most significant scientific breakthrough of the first quarter of the 21st century was announced to the world", published on October 18, 2025, in Canada's newspaper of record, The Globe and Mail, he explores the momentous scientific and societal implications of genome editing.  I was delighted to be quoted twice in the article.  Everyone should read this article, for it challenges humanity to think carefully as we leap ever further into our own undiscovered biotechnological future.

Aukward Morality

 The always brilliant Matt Ridley published a wonderful article entitled "Welcome to the age of de-extinction" in The Spectator Magazine on October 4, 2025.  There, among other charismatic fauna, he discusses reviving and reintroducing into the wild one of my favorites:  the Great Auk.  I'm honored he mentioned my perspective on reviving extinct creatures whose extinctions we humans caused.  With work on the Dodo, Woolly Mammoth, Passenger Pigeon, and Tasmanian Wolf actively advancing, and three living analogues of the Dire Wolf - rather splendidly named Remus, Romulus, and Khaleesi - already prowling around their own secure compound, courtesy of Colossal Biosciences, humanity should be actively advancing policies for sound deextinction governance.