The century of biology: three views

The claim that the twenty-first century will be the century of biology could turn out to be true in three very different ways. One view is that developments in biotechnology will help to treat diseases and improve life. Another view is that changes in the biosphere will lead to extreme scarcity and endanger billions of humans. A third view is that biotechnology and climate change will further bifurcate the world into people with good health prospects and people with poor health prospects. I describe these views and show how they involve different accounts of the ethical issues that we will face and the ethical virtues that we will need to cultivate.