Bioethics and the new creation
November 24, 2005
Jeremy J. Hutcheson
Our culture is losing its ability to decipher how technology is infiltrating and constructing the world around us. Our ability to create and predict, guided by our stance towards nature, allows us to “advance” in ways we never thought possible. Think about it: our technological progression in the last 40 or 50 years is exponential. Everyone walks around with cell phones or PDA’s—instantaneous communication, quick jet flights, iTunes music downloads, etc. Not many people, however, take time to seriously question what this means for society.
One of the most interesting facets of the movie i Robot is its stance toward technology. The story centred on the robot “Sunny.” Sunny is the most advanced robot created by U.S. Robotics—so advanced, that he was almost human. It’s interesting that most movies that question the progression of technology, such as The Matrix and the Terminator trilogies, express the concern of technology becoming more human. However, it is seldom that movies question the ability for humans to become more like technology.
Nigel M. de S. Cameron, in his LambLight lecture on October 27, raised the issue of humans becoming more technological. His talk on bioethics provoked a lot of thought on the position of the human race and Christiany’s response to it. Dr. Cameron spoke about some of the advances that science has made in the form of genetic engineering, cybernetics, stem-cell research and nanotechnology.
Soon, Dr. Cameron said, people will be able to choose their own babies - i.e. their features and abilities - and stop genetic disorders. Some people have predicted that these new genetic babies will eventually become so genetically transfigured, that they will not be able to mate with “naturals.” Dr. Cameron suggested that our technology has surpassed the bounds of non-human nature, and dictates a new wave of control of human nature.
This is not the first example of the over-extension of technology’s hand into nature. The two world wars and nuclear attacks of last century marked a realization that technology needs limits.
Many great thinkers in the 20th century foresaw these events. Probably the most prominent of them were Alexandre Kojéve, Leo Strauss, Carl Schmitt, and Martin Heidegger. Dr. Tom Darby, reflecting on these and other thinkers remarked that “technology is self-referential, relatively autonomous, and progressively sovereign, and being so, tends toward the systematization of nature, both human and non-human.”
Governments, mostly in Europe, are taking measures to prevent systematized, uncontrolled advances in technology as applied to human nature. Some of these measures include a ban on cloning stem-cell research, and genetic manipulation. But there are many countries that have no restrictions on other forms of technological control of human nature such as abortion and contraception.
The advance of technology must stand against the word of the Church, Dr. Cameron suggested. The Church must resort to a classic anthropological view of the human race. This view, held by many religions and non-Christian groups, generally, is that the human body is functional in a mode that should not change, artificially replicate, or be genetically infringed on by technology.
So far, many Christians have ignored technology and its power as a homogenizing force in society. Technology is not necessarily evil in application, but Christians and society as a whole should begin to observe and question technology’s impact and goals. If we don’t, we may find ourselves in a world we never intended to create.
Dr. Darby’s quote from the Bulletin of Science, Technology & Society, Vol. 20, No. 1, 2000.
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