A Crack in Creation: Gene Editing and the Unthinkable Power to Control Evolution book club questions

1. 1.

   Doudna describes calling for a moratorium on germline editing research she helped create. How do you evaluate that decision — too cautious, not cautious enough, or roughly right?

2. 2.

   If gene editing could reliably eliminate a heritable disease from a family line, do you think parents would have a moral obligation to pursue it, or purely an option?

3. 3.

   Gene drives could eliminate mosquito species that carry malaria. What ethical weight, if any, should the interests of a disease-vector species carry in that calculation?

4. 4.

   The book argues that access to CRISPR therapies is partly a justice issue. How should societies handle expensive life-changing technologies that only the wealthy can initially afford?

5. 5.

   Doudna's dream about Hitler illustrates the anxiety that the technology could be misused by bad actors. How realistic is that fear, and does it justify any current restriction?

6. 6.

   Where would you personally draw the line between acceptable therapeutic editing and unacceptable enhancement editing? Is that line stable or does it shift when you consider specific cases?

7. 7.

   The book was published in 2017. How does knowing what happened with He Jiankui in 2018 change how you read its cautious optimism?

8. 8.

   Doudna and Sternberg coauthored this book but Doudna's first-person voice dominates. Does the dual authorship affect how you read its authority?

9. 9.

   How much should the public understand about CRISPR before these decisions are made? And what would adequate public engagement even look like?

10. 10.

    The book discusses CRISPR agriculture — editing crops to resist disease or drought. Do the ethical frameworks around human editing apply to plants, or are they entirely different?

11. 11.

    Doudna mentions that the competitive race to publish and patent CRISPR discoveries created pressures that complicated the science. What does that say about how academic incentives interact with responsible research?

12. 12.

    What is the most important thing you think governments should do in response to CRISPR, based on what this book covers?

How to run the discussion

• Pick six to eight, not all of them. An hour of real discussion covers fewer questions than anyone expects, and racing the list is what makes a book club feel like homework.
• Open with what people noticed, not what they concluded. Asking for a verdict first hardens opinions before anyone has heard each other.
• Let the disagreement run. The questions below that split a room are the ones worth the time; the ones everyone answers the same way can be skipped.
• Ask the quiet person a specific question. A direct, narrow question is far easier to answer than an open invitation to contribute.