Ethics don’t exist in a vacuum, they are developed over time, at an individual level through the course of our relationships with people, animals, the environment, and systems. In our modern world, it’s difficult to be independent of systems we don’t ethically align with. Advances in medical technology are moving at an unprecedented pace, and the frameworks we have to guide the ethical application of these are unable to keep up. At what point does innovation become destructive? 

My guest today is Eben Kirksey, an anthropologist known for his work in multi-species ethnography which argues that all species, however small have agency and importance. That lifeforms such as invertebrates, microbes and plants are not simply the backdrop for the agency and action of animals and people. 

Eben is also the author of the utterly riveting book, The Mutant Project published by Black Inc Books, which explores bioethics through the story of CRISPR technology and how it led to the birth of the world’s first genetically modified children: Lulu and Nana. 

Find out more about Eben here.