Gregory E. Kaebnick explores questions about values and biotechnologies. He is also one of the editors (with Laura Haupt) of the Hastings Center Report and a Hastings Center fellow. He has testified before Congress on ethical issues concerning synthetic biology and served on a National Academy of Sciences committee, Gene Drive Research in Non-Human Organisms: Recommendations for Responsible Conduct. He is the author of Humans in Nature: The World As We Find It and the World As We Create It (Oxford, 2014). He was an associate editor for the fourth edition of the Encyclopedia of Bioethics (MacMillan, 2014) and editor of several editions of Taking Sides: Clashing Views on Bioethical Issues, (McGraw-Hill, 2013-2019).

Dr. Kaebnick is currently the principal investigator of a project, funded by the National Science Foundation, on the ethics of eradicating a species by means of genome editing. Past NSF-funded projects examined the values at play in impact assessment of emerging technologies and the use of public engagement to shape policy decisions about the use of genome editing in the shared environment. He also directs a project funded by the Dana Foundation to produce a series of articles on neuroscience and society. Other past projects he has led, funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, have considered the ethics of synthetic biology, so-called “de-extinction” technologies, the human relationship to nature, and public decision-making about science policy issues. He has also worked on ethical issues associated with paternity testing and animal research ethics.

He received his BA in religion from Swarthmore College and his PhD in philosophy from the University of Minnesota.

Books

Gregory E. Kaebnick, ed., Taking Sides: Clashing Views on Bioethical Issues (McGraw-Hill, 2015).

Gregory E. Kaebnick, Humans in Nature: The World as We Find It and the World as We Create It (Oxford University Press, 2013).

Gregory E. Kaebnick and Thomas H. Murray, eds., Synthetic Biology and Morality: Artificial Life and the Bounds of Nature (MIT Press, 2013).

Gregory E. Kaebnick, ed., The Ideal of Nature (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2011).

Lori P. Knowles and Gregory E. Kaebnick, eds., Reprogenetics: Law, Policy, and Ethical Issues, (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2007).

Selected Special Reports

“Gene Editing in the Wild: Shaping Decisions through Broad Public Deliberation,” edited by Michael K. Gusmano, Gregory E. Kaebnick, Karen J. Maschke, Carolyn P. Neuhaus, and Ben Curran Wills, Hastings Center Report 51, no. S2, November-December 2021.

“Democracy in Crisis: Civic Learning and the Reconstruction of Common Purpose,” edited by Gregory E. Kaebnick, Michael K. Gusmano, Bruce Jennings, Carolyn P. Neuhaus, and Mildred Z. Solomon, Hastings Center Report 51, no. S1, January-February 2021.

“Governance of Emerging Technologies,” edited by Gregory E. Kaebnick and Michael K. Gusmano, Hastings Center Report 48, no. S1, January-February 2018.

“Recreating the Wild: De-extinction, Technology, and the Ethics of Conservation,” edited by Gregory E. Kaebnick and Bruce Jennings, Hastings Center Report 47, no. S2, July-August 2017.

“Synthetic Future: Can We Create What We Want Out of Synthetic Biology?” edited by Gregory E. Kaebnick, Michael K. Gusmano, and Thomas H. Murray, Hastings Center Report 44, no. S5, November-December 2014.

In the Media

Radiolab, on eradication of New World Screwworm

NPR, on creation of an artificial life form

BBC, on eradication of New World Screwworm

Washington Post on the ethics of the president pardoning a turkey before Thanksgiving

Selected Scholarly Publications

“Deliberate Extinction by Genome Modification: An Ethical Challenge,” Gregory E. Kaebnick, James P. Collins, Athmeya Jayaram, Rebecca G. Tiernan, Katie Barnhill, Lucy Carter, Munamato Chemhuru, Pablo Fresia, Bruce Jennings, Curt Meine, Paul Ndebele, Clare Palmer, Christopher Preston, Kent H. Redford, Yasha Rohwer, Ronald Sandler, Maxwell J. Scott, Riley Taitingfong, Laurie Zoloth,  Science 388 (2025): 707-709.

“Civic Learning for a Democracy in Crisis,” Bruce Jennings, Michael K. Gusmano, Gregory E. Kaebnick, Carolyn Neuhaus, and Mildred Z. Solomon, in “Democracy in Crisis: Civic Learning and the Reconstruction of Common Purpose,” suppl., Hastings Center Report 51, no. 1 (2021): S2-S4.

“CBA and Precaution: Policy-Making about Emerging Technologies,” Gregory E. Kaebnickand Michael K. Gusmano, in “Governance of Emerging Technologies, Hastings Center Report 48, no. 1 (2018): S88-S96.

“The Spectacular Garden: Where Might De-extinction Lead?” in “Recreating the Wild: De-extinction, Technology, and the Ethics of Conservation,” suppl., Hastings Center Report 47, no. 4 (2017): S60-S64.

“Precaution and Governance of Emerging Technologies,” Gregory E. Kaebnick, Elizabeth Heitman, James P. Collins, Jason A. Delborne, Wayne G. Landis, Keegan Sawyer, Lisa A. Taneyhill, and David E. Winickoff, Science 354 (2016): 710-11.

Selected Commentaries

“If AI Replaced God, What Could We Demand of It?,” Bioethics Forum, May 28, 2026, https://www.thehastingscenter.org/if-ai-replaced-god-what-could-we-demand-of-it/.

John H. Evans, Craig Callender, Neal K. Devaraj, Farren J. Isaacs, Gregory E. Kaebnick, “Building Decision Points into Research’s Slipperiest Slopes,” Issues in Science & Technology 41, no. 4 (Summer 2025): 78-82; https://issues.org/mirror-life-slippery-slope-decision-points/.

Gregory E. Kaebnick, James Collins, Athmeya Jayaram, and Rebecca G. Tiernan, “The Existential Possibilities for Genome Modification of Species,” Bioethics Forum, May 15, 2025, https://www.thehastingscenter.org/the-existential-possibilities-for-genome-modification-of-species/.

“What Does AI Jesus Teach Us?,” Bioethics Forum, December 20, 2024, https://www.thehastingscenter.org/what-does-ai-jesus-teach-us/?

“The Elephant from Heaven and the Chicken from Hell—Or: Colossal Fantasies,” Bioethics Forum, September 16, 2021, https://www.thehastingscenter.org/the-elephant-from-heaven-and-the-chicken-from-hell-or-colossal-fantasies/.

“Science Doesn’t Work That Way,” Boston Review, April 30, 2021, http://bostonreview.net/science-nature/gregory-e-kaebnick-science-doesnt-work-way

“Forget about ‘Because Science’: Persuading People to Vaccinate their Children Requires Engaging with Them about Their Values,” with Michael Gusmano, Slate,April 15, 2019, https://slate.com/technology/2019/04/vaccination-values-science-based-policy.html