This article considers the existential and eugenic risks of gene editing with CRISPR-Cas9. It brings forward epistemological and phenomenological questions concerning what CRISPR technology suggests about the limits of being human. By illuminating the paradoxical relationship between our "then self" and "now self," it considers the fragility of our individual and collective future-making endeavors. To do this, the article offers an overview of the existential dilemmas facing modern subjects, a history of eugenics and the ideology of health, a meditation on the limits of human knowledge, and an explication of the cultural work of metaphor. It argues for the benefits of human variation for individuals and communities and concludes by calling for an attitude of humility and restraint to guide the development and implementation of humane technologies rather than genetic manipulation technologies that aim to control future outcomes through present actions.

中文翻译：

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我们如何获得 CRISPR：作为人类的困境

本文考虑了使用 CRISPR-Cas9 进行基因编辑的存在和优生风险。它提出了关于 CRISPR 技术对人类极限的暗示的认识论和现象学问题。通过阐明我们“当时的自我”和“现在的自我”之间的矛盾关系，它考虑了我们个人和集体创造未来的努力的脆弱性。为此，本文概述了现代学科面临的生存困境、优生学和健康意识形态的历史、对人类知识局限性的思考，以及对隐喻文化工作的解释。