Biotechnology 101

Introduction

Technology is as old as civilization, and there are ethical issues raised by bows and arrows as well as nuclear weapons. But, as this example shows, new technologies have a tendency to raise the stakes. Technology offers us a means of having more power and influence on the world around us – things, people, and increasingly also ourselves. The more power we get, the bigger the ethical questions. New technologies raise new questions, but they also re-focus old dilemmas.

The biggest challenges for the “biotech century” lie in technologies that give us vast new power over living things, and especially over human life. “Biotechnology” – which means literally the “technology of life” – is fast growing at the interface of the life sciences, medicine, and business. Partnering with biotech are other technologies – especially nanotechnology (which manipulates matter on a very small scale), and cybernetics (which is developing robots to do things that only people have been able to perform). These technologies hold immense hope for curing disease and improving our experience of what it means to be human. They could also affect our humanity in other ways - by “enhancing” it in a manner that would actually have the opposite effect (think of the impact of steroids in sports). And the manipulation that cloning and genetic engineering may soon make possible could give us power over the next generation that to which we have no right, in the same way that existing in vitro technology has made it possible for people to pick the sex or even other features of their children.

Meanwhile, there are features of our society that could make it easier for things to go the wrong way. We have strong laws to protect people from discrimination based on race or gender, but our laws to protect those with genes that may lead to genetic disease or disability are weak. We have laws to protect the “intellectual property” of inventors and writers, but they have been applied to animals and to human genes, and influential people have claimed they should even apply to human embryos. Our generation will need to face the impact of new technologies and ensure that they really help us and do not harm us at the same time. That is why we must study the social, legal and ethical implications of new technologies, and work together from across the culture as well as from many disciplines to ensure that we have good policies and well-informed citizens.

Gene Patents 101
Genetic Discriminiation 101
Germline Intervention 101
Human Cloning 101
Nanotechnology 101
Reproductive Technology 101