What are the most significant bioethical issues of the future?
One of them is the large question of the health-care system. It’s partly a bioethical topic. Some people put it in terms of justice. Some people put it in terms of rights to health care. My preference would be to say something along these lines: What does a decent and prosperous society owe to the health of its citizens? The crisis of ethical long-term care for the elderly might be the most important issue we took up in terms of how it affects the lives of pretty much all the families in the United States. Scientists hope for a magical cure of Alzheimer’s. I have it in my family. It’s depressing. Forty percent of us right now die after a period of enfeeblement, debility, and dementia lasting up to a decade. That’s the most common trajectory toward death. In the more biotechnical areas, I think the possible hazards have to do with genetics. And pharmacology: Drug-induced pleasure or feelings of self-esteem are shadows divorced from the underlying human activities that are the essence of
