June 18, 2004

Bioethics for the Present and the Future

To the Editor:

There are several large grains of truth in Leigh Turner's "Beware the Celebrity Bioethicist" (The Chronicle Review, May 7). First, some self-proclaimed bioethicists do toot their own horns rather loudly. ... Second, some authors who write about bioethical issues do go too far and seem "cavalier," as Turner suggests, when they discuss "cyborg bodies" and "virtual immortality." These writers seem disconnected from reality. Third, there are, as Turner states, pressing