What sorts of people do we want?

I could swear that until recently I – and I assume many others – heard questions about what sorts of people as questions about morality and education.  The extremely rapid increase in biotechnological knowledge and procedures means that all of us now face public policy questions based largely on new sets of possibilities, ones that for many individuals lead or will be leading to issues of immense practical importance.  And the possibilities will continue to expand; we are only at the beginning.

A new project and blog is, consequently, of considerable interest:

What Sorts of People, the new blog, says it is:

… the combined effort of a team of researchers and community members working around the world in different disciplines to address concerns around human variation, normalcy, and enhancement. This blog is a place for academics, community members and individuals alike to connect, find information and discuss issues related to the What Sorts? project.

The Canadian-based  What Sorts of People Should There Be? project, has 61 researchers from 15 different disciplines.  The team also includes members of the community.  Among the exciting possibilities is their potential to ask illuminating and well-defined questions, and to reach some conclusions based on genuine inquiry. 

As the homepage (linked above) says, “Human enhancement, normalcy, and variation are topics of immediate public interest and with far-reaching implications for the future.”