# Robert L. Sinsheimer **Entity class:** Person / geneticist **Documented role in 1969:** Chairman of Caltech's Division of Biology **Relevant publication:** [[wiki/The Prospect for Designed Genetic Change|The Prospect for Designed Genetic Change]] ## Definition Robert L. Sinsheimer discussed the technical prospect and ethical implications of designed human genetic change in a 1969 essay. He contrasted older, multigenerational eugenic selection programs with a possible future in which genetic alteration could be performed on an individual basis. That was a prospective argument, not evidence that the proposed capability then existed, and his terminology retains its historical context. ## Relationships - **Author:** [[wiki/The Prospect for Designed Genetic Change|The Prospect for Designed Genetic Change]] was published in *American Scientist* 57(1) and in a version in Caltech's *Engineering and Science* 32(7), both in 1969; the versions have different title prepositions. - **Historical concept:** [[wiki/Eugenics|Eugenics]] is the context of Sinsheimer's “old” and “new” contrast; [[wiki/Embryo Selection|Embryo Selection]] is a later technical route, not a capability demonstrated in the 1969 essay. - **Evolutionary claim:** [[wiki/Evolutionary Theory|Evolutionary Theory]] supplies the framework for the essay's proposal that humans may deliberately alter their own inheritance. - **Corpus route:** [[collections/Simple Reminders|Simple Reminders]] and [[articles/We Were Never Going to Make It|We Were Never Going to Make It]] carry historical comparison, not an endorsement of Sinsheimer's policy claims. ## Simple Reminders, Quotations, and Thoughts > “For the first time in all time a living creature understands its origin and can undertake to design its future.” > **— Robert L. Sinsheimer**, *1969, “The Prospect for Designed Genetic Change”* [[reminders/Evolution/Humanity Can Understand Its Origin and Design Its Future by Robert L. Sinsheimer|Humanity Can Understand Its Origin and Design Its Future by Robert L. Sinsheimer]] > “In contrast, the new eugenics could, at least in principle, be implemented on a quite individual basis, in one generation, and subject to no existing social restrictions.” > **— Robert L. Sinsheimer**, *1969, “The Prospect of Designed Genetic Change,” Engineering and Science* [[reminders/Selection/Genetic Design Could Move from State Programs to Individual Decisions by Robert L. Sinsheimer|Genetic Design Could Move from State Programs to Individual Decisions by Robert L. Sinsheimer]] > “The horizons of the new eugenics are in principle boundless—for we should have the potential to create new genes and new qualities yet undreamed. But of course the ethical dilemma remains. What are the best qualities, and who shall choose?” > **— Robert L. Sinsheimer**, *1969, “The Prospect of Designed Genetic Change,” Engineering and Science* [[reminders/Selection/Who Chooses the Qualities of Future Humans by Robert L. Sinsheimer|Who Chooses the Qualities of Future Humans by Robert L. Sinsheimer]] ## Sources - [Caltech Library's *American Scientist* article record](https://authors.library.caltech.edu/records/17a7j-rka34). - [Caltech's full-text *Engineering and Science* publication](https://calteches.library.caltech.edu/2718/).