Hello world and welcome to my new blog – Philosophy of Biology and Health! Big words, I know. Let me tell you what I am thinking about and how I plan to update this blog.
First, my interests lie in biology – especially genetics, protein design, and immunotherapy – ethics and law. I am always looking for ways to connect the dots and push my understanding of modern issues from a multi-faceted point of view. As I begin to study these topics of interest, it appears as though both science and health are progressing fast and furiously down their own paths; unleashed, and seemingly uncontrolled at times. In biology, I think of the incredible breakthrough progress over the last few years in genetics and immunotherapy. CRISPR technology and restriction enzymes – technology that helps splice and transfer genes to delay and stop chronic diseases. Immunotherapy treatments, often administered as a vaccine, which help boost one’s own immune system to fight against cancer. More recently, the record time in which the novel COVID-19 viral genome was sequenced and shared with researchers worldwide. In the midst of this innovation, we are all living through and witnessing the unprecedented progression of a global pandemic and the health and social challenges left in its wake.
How do we, as a society and a global community, put the right guardrails around these incredibly promising scientific breakthroughs in biology? How do we maximize the good and minimize the unintended harmful consequences of new technologies and therapies to improve the health of all? How do we best educate the broader public and form well thought out public policies? How can we apply the best of science to help resolve great challenges to our society and our world, such as, but not limited to, responding to the COVID-19 pandemic?
While my blog will not focus exclusively on the COVID-19 pandemic, it is unfortunately a reality that is hard to ignore currently, in May of 2020. It’s heartbreaking to see the enormous loss of life and suffering that is a result of the pandemic, along with its disruptions to everyday life. I find it especially upsetting that our senior citizens are bearing the brunt of the COVID-19 pandemic, with about one-third of US deaths stemming from those in nursing homes. My heart goes out to everyone who is suffering in this difficult time.
My blog, titled Philosophy of Biology and Health, is my attempt to highlight contemporary developments, raise important questions, and begin to outline and suggest potential solutions in real-time. I will do so by looking at topics that catch my attention through four different lenses: Science, Ethics, Economics, and Law & Policy. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so late last night I came up with a graphic to illustrate my vision for this blog.
My Philosophy of Biology and Health (PBH)
The four individual “petals” symbolize the four lenses, with the mosaic at the center symbolizing the complex intersection of some or all of these lenses. It is my hypothesis that the potential solutions for many of the topics I will look into on this blog will lie at this complex intersection of Science, Ethics, Economics, and Law & Policy. Let the adventure begin; welcome to my PBH!