# Gene Editing May Transform Our Species Faster Than We Can Govern It by Randolph Nesse > "Specters from the Disney cartoon The Sorcerer’s Apprentice come to mind. How will a species with limited ability to control itself use such vast new power? The answer will determine the future of our species and life on this planet. In a remarkable demonstration of transparency and foresight, the National Academy of Sciences organized a meeting earlier this month with sibling organizations from the UK and China to discuss the opportunities and threats. The risks were taken seriously, but there was little consensus on where this technology will take us, and how or if we can control it. It seems likely that it will transform our species and life itself, fast. How, no one knows." > **— Randolph Nesse**, *2016, Edge Annual Question, “What Do You Consider the Most Interesting Recent Scientific News? What Makes It Important?”* ## Sources and Context - **Direct Edge response and surrounding essay:** [Gene Editing Will Transform Life Utterly](https://www.edge.org/response-detail/26668) — Edge published this passage in its 2016 Annual Question collection, *What Do You Consider the Most Interesting Recent Scientific News? What Makes It Important?*. The full response preserves the qualifications and argument surrounding this exact extract. - **Complete local collection index:** [[research/Edge 2016 Full Quotation Curation|Edge 2016 Full Quotation Curation]] — retained source-first archive record for the complete yearly response cohort. ## Related Articles and Collections - **Collection:** [[collections/Edge|Edge]] - **Collection:** [[collections/Machine Succession|Machine Succession]] - **Collection:** [[collections/MARS|MARS]] - **Article:** [[articles/The Evolutionary Roots of Silicon Valley|Valley Roots]] - **Article:** [[articles/Digital Darwinism and the Invisible World of Machine Evolution|Digital Darwinism]] - **Article:** [[articles/The Last Migration Will Not Be Human|The Last Migration]] - **Wiki map:** [[wiki/Machine Succession|Machine Succession]] ## Related Topics - [[wiki/Genome|Genome]] - [[wiki/Real-Time Genetic Repair|Real-Time Genetic Repair]] - [[wiki/Genetic Code|Genetic Code]] - [[wiki/Synthetic Biology|Synthetic Biology]] ## Share on Social Media ``` "Specters from the Disney cartoon The Sorcerer’s Apprentice come to mind. How will a species with limited ability to control itself use such vast new power? The answer will determine the future of our species and life on this planet. In a remarkable demonstration of transparency and foresight, the National Academy of Sciences organized a meeting earlier this month with sibling organizations from the UK and China to discuss the opportunities and threats. The risks were taken seriously, but there was little consensus on where this technology will take us, and how or if we can control it. It seems likely that it will transform our species and life itself, fast. How, no one knows." — Randolph Nesse, 2016, Edge Annual Question, “What Do You Consider the Most Interesting Recent Scientific News? What Makes It Important?” https://bryantmcgill.com/simple-reminders-randolph-nesse-gene-editing-transform-species ```