A Deerfield Forum
Munk Debate on Gene Editing
APRIL 21, 2026, 7:00 pm, Hess Auditorium
Head of School John Austin and the Deerfield Academy Academic Affairs Office are pleased to present the fifth Deerfield Forum, this year in partnership with the Munk Debates, North America’s leading debate series.
Motion:
Be it Resolved, let’s engineer better human beings.
About the Debate:
New powerful engineering technology is already being used to edit human embryos, curing diseases and repairing defective genes before a child is even born. Some welcome this new science as a powerful tool to enhance human intelligence, memory, appearance, and physical health. Why wouldn’t we embrace a science that allows people to live longer, healthier, and happier lives? Others warn that this new technology will be used to create designer babies and a new class of genetically “enhanced” elites. It will undermine human dignity and autonomy, and risk unleashing new diseases into the human gene pool. Playing God with human nature, critics argue, will result in a dystopian nightmare of our own making.
About the moderator:
Rudyard Griffiths
Rudyard Griffiths is the chair and moderator of the Munk Debates. He is a senior fellow at the Munk School for Global Affairs and Public Policy, bestselling author and the publisher of The Hub, Canada’s leading online news outlet for public policy debate and analysis.
He has been a television news anchor on BNN, CTV and Bloomberg TV Canada, and columnist with the NATIONAL POST and The Toronto Star.
About the Debaters:
Arguing in favor of the motion is the biophysicist, best-selling author, biotechnology entrepreneur, and the former director of the Program on Medicine, Technology and Society at UCLA School of Medicine, Gregory Stock. His debate partner is the internationally acclaimed strategic philosopher and pioneering transhumanist Max More. Arguing against the motion is the prominent American bioethicist Ezekiel Emanuel, Special Advisor to the Director General of the WHO and a former founding chair of the Department of Bioethics at the National Institutes for Health. His debate partner is the award-winning educator, author, and Professor of Reproductive Science at University College London, Joyce Harper.
Food for Thought Before the Debate
Ezekiel Emanuel, Eat Your Ice Cream: Six Simple Rules for a Long and Healthy Life (W. W. Norton & Co., 2026)
Marcy Gallo and Amanda Sarata, “Advanced Gene Editing: CRISPR-Cas9,” Congressional Research Service, December 7, 2018
Joyce Harper, “World’s First Gene‑Edited Babies? Premature, Dangerous and Irresponsible,” The Conversation, November, 26, 2018
Andrew Henle, “How CRISPR Lets You Edit DNA,” TED-Ed, January 29, 2019
Max More, “The Proactionary Principle,” Extopic Thoughts, June 16, 203
Michael Sandel, “The Case Against Perfection” (The Atlantic, 2004)
Julian Savulescu, “As a Species, We Have a Moral Obligation to Enhance Ourselves,” TED, February 19, 2014
Gregory Stock, “To Upgrade Is Human,” TED, April 14, 2009
Anna Louie Sussman, “Should Human Life Be Optimized,” New York Times, April 1, 2025
Karen Young and Peter Mills, “As Genome Editing Moves from the Lab into the Clinic, the Ethical Debate Can No Longer Be Hypothetical,” World Economic Forum, November 6, 2018
"The Munk Debates were built on a conviction I share: that serious argument, conducted in good faith, can change minds, and that changing one's mind is not a sign of weakness but of intellectual honesty and courage. I can think of no better model for what we are trying to accomplish here at Deerfield, and we are honored that Munk chose Deerfield as the place to bring that model to a school for the first time."
Gregory Stock
Gregory Stock is a biophysicist, best-selling author, biotechnology entrepreneur, and the former director of the Program on Medicine, Technology and Society at UCLA School of Medicine. He is best known for creating The Book of Questions series and for his expertise on the impact of genetic engineering on human futures.
Max More
Max More is a philosopher and futurist who writes, speaks, and consults on emerging technologies. He was the president and CEO of the Alcor Life Extension Foundation and is the author of the forthcoming Biostasis: How Future Technologies Could Save Your Life.
Ezekiel Emanuel
Ezekiel Emanuel is a prominent American oncologist, bioethicist, and Vice Provost for Global Initiatives at the University of Pennsylvania. He is Special Advisor to the Director General of the WHO and was the founding chair of the Department of Bioethics at the NIH. Dr. Emanuel is the most widely cited bioethicist in history with over 350 publications.
Joyce Harper
Joyce Harper is an internationally renowned, award-winning educator, author, podcaster, academic, public speaker and scientist. She is Professor of Reproductive Science at University College London in the Institute for Women’s Health where she is Head of the Reproductive Science and Society Group.
The Munk Debates is a charity that seeks to promote the art of civil and substantive public debate by convening the brightest thinkers of our time to weigh in on the big issues of the day. Founded by industrialist Peter Munk in 2008, the Debates began as twice annual live debates in Toronto, Canada. Fifteen years later, the Debates have won international acclaim and expanded beyond live events into a popular podcast series, online video programming, and an 80,000-person active membership.