Jamie Frederic Metzl (born around 1968) is an American geopolitical expert^{[citation needed]}, author, a former partner in the global investment company Cranemere LLC,^[1][2] and a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council. He was formerly the Asia Society's Executive Vice President.^[3] He developed and led the Asia Society's Asia 21 Young Leaders Initiative, the organization's Pan-Asia-Pacific leadership development program.^[4][5] He is the author of five books, including the science fiction novels Genesis Code and Eternal Sonata and the non-fiction work, Hacking Darwin: Genetic Engineering and the Future of Humanity.

Metzl served the Clinton Administration, serving as Director for Multilateral and Humanitarian Affairs for the National Security Council,^[6] working for the Clinton Administration in the United States Department of State as Senior Advisor to the Undersecretary for Public Diplomacy & Public Affairs and Information Technology and Senior Coordinator for International Public Information,^[7] and was also Deputy Staff Director of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee under then Senator Joe Biden.^[8]

[...]

Early life and education

Metzl is the son of Kurt, a pediatrician, and Marilyn, a clinical psychologist.^[9][10] He is a magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Brown University.^[6] For the Brown Alumni magazine, Metzl wrote an article describing having a Wikipedia page about himself as a "narcissistic pleasure" and how he had asked an assistant to edit it on multiple occasions.^[11] He also holds a Ph.D. in Southeast Asian history from Oxford University and a J.D. from Harvard Law School.^[12] He attended high school at The Barstow School in Kansas City, Missouri.^[13]

Career

Metzl served as Deputy Staff Director and Senior Counselor of the United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations,^[8] Senior Coordinator for International Public Information and Senior Advisor to the Undersecretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs at the Department of State,^[14] and Director of Multilateral and Humanitarian Affairs on the National Security Council.^[14] In the Clinton Administration, he was the primary drafter of Presidential Decision Directive 68 on International Public Information^[15] and coordinated public information campaigns for Iraq and Kosovo.^[16] From 1991 to 1993, Metzl was a Human Rights Officer for the United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia (UNTAC),^[17] where he helped establish a human rights investigation and monitoring unit for Cambodia.^[18]

In 2003, Metzl directed a Council on Foreign Relations study which argued that the United States was not doing enough to prepare first responders (i.e. fire, police, rescue and medical agencies) to handle another catastrophic attack.^[19]

Metzl has been featured as a commentator in the American and international media, including BBC, CNN, Bloomberg, and Fox News Channel. He has appeared on Meet the Press, discussing how emergency responders being drastically underfunded and dangerously unprepared.^[20] He authored a book on human rights in Southeast Asia and the novel The Depths of the Sea,^[21] and his writing has been published in The New York Times^[22] Foreign Affairs^[23] and many other publications.^[24] He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations,^[25] and a former White House Fellow,^[26] Aspen Institute Crown Fellow,^[27] and French-American Foundation Young Leader.^[28] He is a founder and co-chairman of bipartisan^[29] national security NGO the Partnership for a Secure America,^[30] has served on the board of the Jewish refugee organization HIAS,^[2][31] the International Center for Transitional Justice,^[32] and the Brandeis University International Center for Ethics, Justice and Public Life,^[33] and has served as an election monitor in Afghanistan^[34] and the Philippines.^[35] He is an advisor for World Health Organization (WHO).

He is the former chairman of the international advisory committee to the Mongolian Ministry of Nature, Environment, and Tourism and the former is Honorary Ambassador to North America of the Korean Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Energy.^[36]

In 2004, Metzl ran unsuccessfully against former Kansas City Mayor Emanuel Cleaver for the Democratic nomination for Missouri's Fifth Congressional District.^[37]

Personal life

He has completed 13 Ironman triathlons and 30 marathons, as well as 15 ultramarathons.^[38][39][40]

Profiles

• Marathon Man (DNA Bangalore, March 2010) 20&prntid=15542&bxid=27996750&pgno=14^{[dead link]}

• 아시아 차세대 리더들, 한국서 배울 점 많아 (Chosun Ilbo, November 2006) [7] (in Kanuri)

• Polymath Jamie Metzl on AI, Genetics, and the Future (Psychology Today, November 2018)

• A Modern Day Renaissance Man Shares Lessons on Happiness, Habits, and Health (Huffington Post, December 2014)

Works

This biographical section is written like a résumé. Please help improve it by revising it to be neutral and encyclopedic. (February 2018)

Books

• Jamie Frederic Metzl (April 2019) Hacking Darwin: Genetic Engineering and the Future of Humanity, Sourcebooks. ISBN 149267009X^[41]

• Jamie Frederic Metzl (2016) Eternal Sonata, Arcade. ASIN: B01HDVCR4U

• Jamie Frederic Metzl (2014) Genesis Code, Arcade. ISBN 1628724234^[42]

• Jamie Frederic Metzl (May 2004). The Depths of the Sea. St. Martin's Press. ISBN 0-312-32202-X.

• Jamie Frederic Metzl (1996). Western Responses to Abuses in Cambodia, 1975-80. St. Martin's Press. ISBN 0-333-64325-9.

Syndicated columns

• Reinvigorating the US-Japan Alliance (Project Syndicate, February 22, 2013)[8]

• The Paradox of China’s Reform (Project Syndicate, May 18, 2012)^[43]

• 5 Imperatives for G20 (Korea Times, November 8, 2010) [9]

• Sri Lanka Must Invest in Rights Protection (Japan Times, June 4, 2010) [10]

Other publications

• Metzl, Jamie (August 22, 2011), China and Cyber-Espionage, Huffington Post

• China's Threat to World Order, Wall Street Journal, August 17, 2011

• Dear President Hu: China must meet its global responsibilities, CNN, January 12, 2011

• Judgment at Wikipedia, Brown Alumni Magazine, March 2010

Media interviews

• Impact of China easing one child policy (CNN, November 18, 2013) [11]

• Bi Xilai's Impact on China's Communist Party (Bloomberg TV, August 21, 2013) [12]

• How Significant Is the Bo Xilai Case to the U.S.? (Bloomberg TV, August 7, 2013) [13]

• U.S. Expected to Push China on Currency (Bloomberg TV, July 10, 2013) [14]

Congressional testimonies

• Can We Prevent the Arms Race of the Human Race: Addressing the National Security Challenges of the Genetic Revolution - Statement of Jamie F. Metzl before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, Sub-Committee on International Terrorism and Nonproliferation (June 19, 2008)[15]^{[permanent dead link]}

• Testimony of Jamie Metzl Before the House Select Committee on Homeland Security, 2003 [16]^{[permanent dead link]}

Task forces

• Growing Together Beats Falling Apart, An Asia Society Task Force Report, November 2010 (Task Force Advisory Group Member)^[44]

• North Korea Inside Out: The Case for Economic Engagement, An Asia Society Task Force Report, December 2009 (Task Force Advisory Group Member) [17]

• Back from the Brink? A Strategy for Stabilizing Afghanistan-Pakistan, An Asia Society Task Force Report, April 2009 (Project Director) [18]

• Delivering on the Promise: Advancing U.S. Relations with India, An Asia Society Task Force Report, January 2009 (Task Force Member) [19]

Selected lectures and moderations

• Rising China and the Changing Global Order, Vail Symposium (June 28, 2003)^[1]

• Rising China, Changing World, Imagine Solutions Conference (February 11, 2013)^[45]

• Lobsang Sangay on What's Next for Tibet, Asia Society (July 22, 2011)^[46]

• Can President Obama's New Afghanistan Strategy Succeed?, Asia Society (December 8, 2009)^[47]

[...]

Mr. Metzl is author of the forthcoming “Hacking Darwin: Genetic Engineering and the Future of Humanity.”

The year is 2045. The genomes of four billion humans have been sequenced, creating a huge pool of genetic information accessible to researchers. This process had been well underway in 2019, but accelerated rapidly once many countries realized that understanding human biology was the ultimate big data

problem and a key to reducing health care costs and enhancing national competitiveness. Widely sharing deeply personal health information had alarmed privacy advocates. But supporters of sharing genetic data argued convincingly that the benefits to society outweighed the privacy concerns of individuals. The debate may have once seemed abstract. But now you are in a fertility clinic and the issues are fast becoming real.

The cascade of numbers overwhelms you as the doctor splashes the spreadsheet across the digital walls of her office.

“I hope you can see the wonder and possibility in these figures,” she says, trying to put you at ease.

As you sit in the spa-like clinic, it’s hard to imagine it was just last week when your assistant placed the miniature device on your arm that painlessly suctioned out a small amount of blood and started you on this journey. The spark of life that used to begin in bedrooms and the back seats of cars was now migrating out of the human body and into the lab.

“Take your time,” the doctor continues. “You need to first select the early- stage embryo optimal for you. The numbers across the top list the 300 options for you that we’ve prescreened from the initial 10,000. The column down the left lists all the disorders and traits influenced by genetics that we have some ability to predict. The numbers populating the chart are our best predictions for how the genetic component of each trait would be realized if we selected based on that trait alone. We’re looking for high composite scores emphasizing the qualities most important to you.”

You scan the lists on the walls wondering if a human being can really be reduced to numbers. “Can you really predict all of these traits?” you ask.

“These are all probabilities, not certainties,” the doctor says. “Not all traits are equally genetic. And genetics is a trade-off, so we can’t choose to optimize every trait. Thirty years ago we could mostly just identify disorders determined by a single genetic mutation, but in 2018 we started using what we call ‘polygenic scoring’ to make better predictions about diseases and traits influenced by hundreds or thousands of genes.

“Our biology is still about as complex as it’s been for millions of years but the technology we’re using to understand it is getting exponentially more sophisticated,” she continues. “There may be magic in humans, but we aren’t made of magic. Our DNA is a type of source code we’re learning how to read and write.”

The idea of humans as hackable data sets may be increasingly common but still unsettles you. The numbers on the wall seem to confirm the doctor’s words. “And this 60 means that embryo would be good at math?” you ask, pointing to one of the options on the list.

“There are few genetic guarantees,” she answers, “but that embryo would have a greater than average possibility, with lots of other necessary environmental inputs, of being a very good pure mathematician. Comparing billions of people’s genetics with their test scores over the past 30 years has taught us a lot. Many people with the potential to be great mathematicians never realize that potential, but there are probably no highest-level mathematicians without the necessary underlying genetics.”

Your mind struggles to build a case for nature as it used to seem. “My mother always used to tell me I was perfect just as I was.”

“And you are,” the doctor replies. “We all are. These would all be your natural children just the same as if you had conceived through sex or old-fashioned in vitro fertilization. We’ve simply increased the number of options by turning cells from the blood sample you sent us into the stem cells we used to create more eggs. The great Japanese scientist Shinya Yamanaka won the 2012 Nobel Prize for pointing us in this direction. All of the qualities you’re choosing are entirely your and your sperm donor’s genetic inheritance. We aren’t altering those genetics in any way, just enhancing your choice and limiting your risk.”

You still struggle with the idea that the magic of life can be reduced to a series of percentages on a chart. “Is it really that simple?”

“Nature is no fool. Evolution isn’t random. It just made some trade-offs for us over the years that today don’t always seem that great. We have to approach all of this with a healthy dose of humility.”

Scanning the wall, you don’t see humility. A few low numbers catch your eye. Would it possibly make sense to implant an embryo more likely to get Type 1 diabetes or early-onset familial Alzheimer’s or to die young? You know that people with genetic disorders are just different. Some of them, like some people with autism, even have powers far beyond their so-called normal peers. What would it mean to select these conditions with a simple nod? You fidget nervously. “What if I pick to optimize a characteristic that makes sense today but could be less helpful in a different world tomorrow?”

“If our environment changes, we need to adapt,” the doctor says. “But our ability to push changes more assertively has also increased rapidly since the genetic engineering revolution began in the 1970s, especially since our gene editing tools started really taking off around 30 years ago. It’s not yet safe enough to make too many edits to the genomes of human embryos, but we can confidently make deletions, alterations and insertions to alter the expression of a few genes where the potential benefits seem to outweigh the risks — like for increased resistance to some deadly viruses, greater ability to build and maintain muscle mass, or a lower risk of cancer, diabetes, familial Alzheimer’s, and coronary disease. Those are all part of our premium enhancement package.”

You are relatively wealthy and living in an advanced country but it bothers you that many others can’t afford or obtain this basic level of service, let alone the premium package. You wonder if it’s right to select human traits as if they were features of a car, and if it’s dangerous to frontally assault four billion years of evolution. You fear you might be fixing one potential problem only to inadvertently create another.

[As technology advances, will it continue to blur the lines between public and private? Sign up for Charlie Warzel’s limited-run newsletter to explore what’s at stake and what you can do about it.]

But then you close your eyes and imagine your grandchildren holding your future daughter’s hand as her mind deteriorates from early-onset Alzheimer’s or weeping at the cemetery after her premature death. Would you really play Russian roulette with your daughter’s fate? Wouldn’t you want more than anything else to give her the greatest genetic opportunity to live a long, healthy and successful life?

Your head suddenly stops throbbing. Your mind becomes clear. You open your eyes. “What’s the next step?”

“You need to make hard choices ranking your priorities both for the embryo selection and the gene edits,” the doctor says, leaning in. “Picking everything is like picking nothing. If having a good shot at a longer life and an outgoing personality are really important to you, give those your highest ranking. If being a good long-distance runner is nice but not that important, put that lower.”

Your mind is already transfixed on the range of possible futures. You breathe in deeply.

“Shall we begin?”