William Hurlbut: The Power of the Individual

Holy cow! My pal William B. Hurlbut is on the podium behind President Bush as he makes his stem cell speech in the East Room. What a moment for Bill! I knew he was meeting with the president, but I had no idea it would result in such a public and high profile presidential pat on the back. I am so happy for him.

Hurlbut is the moving force behind altered nuclear transfer (ANT), one of the alternatives to ESCR that we have discussed here at SHS. But this isn’t the point of my post. I have always believed in the power of the individual to improve the human condition. My heroes have been people like William Lloyd Garrison, Martin Luther King, and Ralph Nader, strong individuals who often swum against powerful cultural tides to the great benefit of society.

Bill has worked himself to near-exhaustion in promoting ANT in the hope of bridging the gap between the “scientists” and those who worry about using nascent human life instrumentally, as occurs in conventional ESCR. In this, he is an idealist, as most crusading (in the good meaning of that term) individuals are. Bill is very enthusiastic about science, he is unequivocally “pro-science,” and he yearns to find a “solution,” (in his term) that would fulfill all of the scientific hopes for embryonic stem cell research, while maintaining what he sees as proper ethical boundaries. Frankly, I don’t believe “the scientists” want a solution. They want to get their way. Thus, even if ANT or another alternative method works, the “scientists” will shrug their shoulders and keep on cloning. But Bill does, and so he has willingly suffered the brickbats of many of his scientific colleagues, and some on our side of the issue, and pressed on.

And this (finally) is the point: One can disagree with his approach. One can disagree with his ethical analysis. No one has a monopoly on wisdom, after all. But it seems to me, that Hurlbut’s commitment and desire to do what is right—even at a personal cost—illustrates the best of us. I am proud to be Bill’s friend.