BACK TO STUDY GUIDE MAIN PAGE
PREVIOUS PAGE
‘The path is open, by-passing the natural evolution, to design unusual creatures.’
The chance as no better than [even] odds on that civilization will avoid a catastrophic setback.
That could all conspire together to challenge how we think, what kind of individuals we are, and even whether each of us stays an individual at all.
|
In our growing knowledge of lie, in biology, the trend for science to be slipping out of control appears already to be gaining an ever faster pace. The rigid hierarchy of a society segregated by biochemical and genetic manipulation, from intellectual ‘alphas’ down to ‘epsilons’ who operate the lifts, portrayed by Aldous Huxley in Brave New World, is now seen as a real future threat by many. Predictably, a morass or websires express serious concerns over genetics, for example: ‘The path is open, by-passing the natural evolution, to design unusual creatures – from fairly useful to imagination-striking monsters.’
And we might well end up with ‘designer’ babies, potential geniuses or highly obedient and tough soldiers. But manipulations of genes allows further possibilities too; offset against the benefits of gene therapy and new types of medication and diagnostics, there are clones, artificial genes, germ-line engineering, and the tricky relationship of genetic profiling to insurance premiums and job applications. In any event, for The Technophobes, the question of basic survival seems far from certain; according to Bill Joy, the philosopher John Leslie puts the risk of human extinction at 30 per cent at the least. And the astronomer Martin Rees, in his latest book, Our Final Century, rates the chance as no better than odds on that civilization will avoid a catastrophic setback.
No one could really disagree with Aristotle that ‘All men by nature desire to know’; the human brain has evolved to ask questions, and to survive by answering them. Science is simply the formal realization of our natural curiosity. Yet no one could fool themselves any longer that, as we stand on the cusp of this new century, we are traveling the simple path of ‘progress’. Sure, for several generations now we have strived to balance the pay-off between ‘unnatural’ mechanization and a pain-free, hunger-free, longer-lasting existence; but now we face a future of interactive and highly personalized information technology, and intrusive but invisible nanotechnology, not to mention a sophisticated and powerful biotechnology, that could all conspire together to challenge how we think, what kind of individuals we are, and even whether each of us stays an individual at all.
|
Can we really afford to assume that humanity will be able to muddle through?
So first we need to evaluate the 21st-century technologies, and then unflinchingly open our minds to all possibilities…
|
For The Cynics the implications that this prospect poses, in all its horror and excitement, will be sensationalist hype at best and scaremongering at worst. They won’t believe that science will ever be able to produce new types of fundamentally life-transforming technologies, and even if it were, they feel that humans are sufficiently wise and have an inbuilt sanity check to deal with any ethical, cultural or intellectual choices that might ensue. This attitude is not only questionable – in the light of the far more modest precedents that we have witnessed in technology over the last half century – but also chillingly complacent. Can we really afford to assume that humanity will be able to muddle through? And even if we did survive as the unique personalities we are now, in a world bristling with biotech, infotech and nanotech, can we still be sure that such passivity, just letting it all happen, will be the best way to optimize the benefits and reduce any ensuing risks?
Perhaps both Technophiles and Technophobes would agree on one very important issue that sets them aside from The Cynics: we must be proactive and set the agenda for what we want and need from such rapid technical advances; only then shall we, our children and our grandchildren come to have the best life possible. So first we need to evaluate the 21st-century technologies, and then unflinchingly open our minds to all possibilities…
BACK TO STUDY GUIDE MAIN PAGE |