Hi, my name's Kevin Esvelt and I'm a scientist working on molecular, evolutionary, and ecological engineering. I played a very minor role in developing CRISPR genome editing and was evidently the first to realize it could be used to build gene drive systems capable of engineering populations of wild organisms.

If you haven't read about gene drive - and even if you have - I highly recommend reading this hugely informative essay by Dylan Matthews of Vox.

Relatedly, I'm a strong advocate of more open science, beginning with using gene drive research as a small and high-profile field trial of pre-registration in tech development.

Finally, we in Sculpting Evolution try to carefully consider our moral obligations and publicly admit mistakes. We'll be on at 2pm eastern (19 UT) - AMA!

EDIT: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver did a segment about this just last night!

EDIT #2: Our guest needs to take a break, but will be back later tonight to answer many more questions.