Speaking
Bringing lively stories to the stage.
Eben has an insatiable curiosity about nature and culture. Investigating some of the most important stories of our time—related to biotechnology, the environment, and social justice—led him to Asia, the Pacific, and the Americas.
Book Keynote LectureStories about science and justice have the power to shape the future.
When controversy broke about the world’s first genetically modified babies, Eben spoke about ethics from the main stage of the International Summit on Human Genome Editing in Hong Kong.
Over 1.8 million people watched news unfold from the Summit in real time, as Dr. Jiankui He revealed the details of his CRISPR experiment. After the dust settled, Eben traveled to mainland China where he secured insider access to Dr. He’s laboratory. Profit-driven medical enterprises continue to push CRISPR into reproductive clinics.
Hope
Hope is a central theme that runs through Eben’s stories. His latest book explores how the fragile hopes of patients—people who dream of curing chronic illnesses with gene editing—have inspired scientists and biotechnology companies to do better research. As elements of science fiction start to arrive in reality, we need to anticipate the near future by asking: What are the creative and democratic potentials of gene editing with CRISPR? Eben's tales from the frontiers of science and imagination have captivated audiences at college campuses, live storytelling shows, community events, and music festivals.
Nature and Culture
In an era of widespread environmental destruction and pandemic disease, it has become difficult to hold onto hope. While researching Emergent Ecologies, Eben found lively communities that are flourishing in unexpected places. In Costa Rica, he worked with school children who planted seedlings in abandoned cattle pastures—reseeding a cloud forest to survive the uncertain times ahead. In the southern United States he encountered troops of wild monkeys—rumored to have escaped from the original Tarzan movies. Eben's tales about nature and culture engage with contemporary philosophical insights to illustrate hopeful opportunities for a shared future.
Human Rights
Eben has found hope in difficult situations too. At the age of twenty-two he witnessed a massacre in West Papua, a remote Pacific island. Harrowing testimony about this experience, delivered to Amnesty International conferences and the United States Congress, inspired policy makers and activists to pursue change.
Community Events
With a speaking style that blends serious subjects with light-hearted anecdotes, audiences are engaged, entertained and sure to be speaking about his talks long afterwards. Experience with diverse audiences—from senior citizen groups, to teenagers—gives Eben the ability to craft customized narratives that become personal to everyone present.
Bringing lively stories to the stage
Book Keynote LectureTalks
Discussing The Mutant Project, Bendigo Writers Festival
The Emergence of COVID-19: A Multispecies Story