D. Joy Riley, M.D., M.A. Executive Director The Tennessee Center for Bioethics and Culture July 2007

In “Rappaccini’s Daughter,” Nathaniel Hawthorne tells us the story of a scientist, Dr. Rappaccini, who is intrigued to the point of obsession with the knowledge of science.  His particular interest is in poisonous plants, for within them, he is convinced, lie “all medicinal virtues.”  He has a daughter, Beatrice, renowned for her beauty, but rarely seen.  That is, until Giovanni Guasconti, student at the University of Padua, comes to live next door.  From his lodgings, Giovanni looks down into an incredible garden, and eventually, glimpses Beatrice Rappaccini there, ...read more

Melanie Unruh, R.N., B.S.N. Intern, The Tennessee Center for Bioethics and Culture July 2007

“I was born human. But this was an accident of fate…” Such a quote sounds like a great opening to a science-fiction movie, but it is in fact the statement of Kevin Warwick, a professor of cybernetics at the University of Reading, England. Warwick belongs to a growing group of scientists and philosophers who consider themselves to be transhumanists. But what exactly is a transhumanist? 

The word transhuman is an abbreviation of the words “transitional human.” The concept implies that we humans are simply a transitional form along the evolutionary ...read more