Ben Waber reviewed Absolutely Essential by Jonathan D. Moreno
An Insightful Historical Review of the Evolution of Global Bioethics
4 stars
This is an excellent review of the historical development of bioethics across the world, demonstrating how the efficacy of the current regime is predicated on a somewhat nebulous "rules-based international order" (i.e. rich nominally democratic nations setting and enforcing rules). This is useful because too often ethical frameworks have a purely domestic bent, which given the global nature of science and industry is divorced from the reality of how these fields operate. Moreno shows how the international community has consistently built norms over time backed by state power (e.g. Nuremberg code, recent CRISPR scandals, etc.), and starts to probe what the current reshuffling of global power structures means for bioethical practice. As inarguably the most advanced technical ethical field, books like this are ones that the business and tech community should read closely to understand how to begin to build a comparable depth of organizations and practices. Highly recommend