The Fully-Automated Human: How Is Technology Augmenting Our Identities?

What if you could detect cancer years before the visible signs? What if you could analyze your genome to predict your longevity? What if your parents could edit your DNA long before you were born? What if your computer could think, feel and reason better than you?

The tools of today are not only enhancing how we live—they are changing who we are. But they also introduce a new burden of responsibility. With so much information about ourselves now available, who should have access to it? If we have the ability to fundamentally alter our biologies or enhance our personalities, should we?

This panel discussion features TEDxCERN 2016 speakers who are developing identity-changing technologies that are redefining how we perceive our health, our lifestyles and our roles in society. With Dennis Lo and Gary Marcus, Eleonore Pauwels discusses the transformative potential of genome-editing (CRISPR technology) and how this new technique converges with precision medicine and artificial intelligence.

Watch Panel Video