Although those on the cutting edge of rapidly changing medical, industrial, and military technologies recognize the need to involve the public in a discussion about how to limit irresponsible applications, I tried to tell a joke that fell flat because those hearing it were unfamiliar with CRISPR.
The joke goes like this. A CRISPR scientist, Trump, a school child, and the Pope were on a damaged airplane that had only three parachutes. The CRISPR scientist, who I later explained was experimenting with the ability to edit cells to produce better crops and possibly to improve the immune properties of genes to cure cancer and other diseases, said she was about to make an important medical breakthrough that would save lives and grabbed one of the parachutes. Trump, who said he was the smartest man in the world and was needed to lead it, also jumped out. The Pope told the student to take the remaining parachute, because he had lived a long productive life and the child had his whole life ahead of him. The student said, "No worries, the smartest man in the world just took my backpack."
If for no other reason, we need to keep up with changing technologies in order to laugh at jokes. There are lots of other reasons, too. Wendell Wallach, in his book, A Dangerous Master, introduces everyone to the challenges of the new technologies and ways to make sure they work for us. (Also see the earlier post, "The Challenge of New Technologies: Prepare to Think.")
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