ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the politics of emerging debates about ethical and governance challenges associated with genome editing, focusing in particular on applications of CRISPR to human germline genetic engineering (HGGE). It argues that the debate is informed by a longstanding imaginary in US politics of biotechnology that positions science and technology as generative of sociotechnical futures, and therefore as most able to know what futures are possible and what warrants worry. The chapter also explores the dynamics by examining the current HGGE debate. Much of the deliberation around genome editing takes for granted that "CRISPR's world" is inevitable, and that society must recalibrate its norms and rules in response. The chapter argues that the approaches to governing genome editing that have dominated US discourse and US-based efforts to shape international governance reflect a longstanding presumption that with ever-advancing science and technology, law and the norms it codifies are "biodegradable".
