The Genome and the Law: Should Increased Genetic Knowledge Change the Law?

The title of this symposium asks: Does scientific knowledgechange the law? On one level, the answer is obvious: ofcourse, science and technology are always changing the law?As a matter of positive description, law is an integral part of aculture, and as cultural knowledge and beliefs about humannature change, law inevitably changes with them. But the moreinteresting and important question is the normative one: howshould our law change in light of increasing knowledge of thehuman genome? That will be a central question occupyinglegal thought in coming decades as progress in geneticschanges not only our understanding of human nature, but alsoour ability to manipulate human nature