If we can put a man on the moon and sequence the human genome, we should be able to devise something close to a universal digital public library.

Grain that is used to feed animals that end up on our tables as turkeys and hams could have gone to feed starving people.

I think ethics is always there; it's not always a very thoughtful or reflective ethics.

Sci-fi is often a metaphor. I think it's more the themes and questions that science fiction raises rather than the exact predictions that should guide us.

Knowing that we can control our own behaviour makes it more likely that we will.

My major concern about leaving enhancement to the marketplace is that then the rich will be able to buy themselves genetically superior children and the poor will not - sharpening the class divisions we have now. That problem could be overcome if, genetic enhancement were available to all, subsidized by the state - and that would, over time, have benefits for society as well.

If you have the abilities to earn a lot of money and if you have the character to persist in giving that to the most effective charities you can find, then that may be the best thing that you can do. And - also, if you do become a Wall Street banker, I think you need to be aware of what you're doing in terms of your daily work, not just earning money to give a lot away. But you need to think about - am I harming people through the work that I'm doing?