Recent developments in science have given us the power to create life, to sustain it and to examine the genetic recipes of each individual. Yet, far from improving our understanding of humanity, such possibilities raise ever more complex issues. The tendency is to make life simple by focusing on single aspects of our existence. Defining life and death is no longer a consideration of the holistic nature of a person’s being, but a question of whether the frontal lobes of the brain are functioning properly. Reducing ourselves may be useful for law making, but it reveals only a shadow of the true complexity of what it is to be a human being.
In this thought-provoking examination of the complexity of human nature Pete Moore explores different facets of what it means to be human in the twenty-first century. He shows that with this holistic approach we can more appropriately assess the scientific developments that are already impacting our lives.
About the Author, Pete Moore
Dr Pete Moore is a medical journalist and Honorary Fellow of Trinity College, Bristol. He is Chairman of the Medical Journalists Association and winner of numerous awards for his journalism, including the MJA Tony Thistlethwaite Award for his most recent book, Blood and Justice. He is an official rapporteur at Windsor Castle and private meetings at the House of Lords. He has a PhD in physiology and has held a range of post-doctoral research fellowships with The Wellcome Trust and British Heart Foundation. He also lectures in ethics.
