Technology and science are moving forward at an extraordinary and increasing pace. Many people fear that this brings with it unplanned and potentially unacceptable risk. They say science is amoral and makes ‘progress’ without regard to the cost and benefits it brings.
Human cloning, for instance, seemingly treats humans as objects to be manipulated. The development of pre-implantation genetic diagnosis and consequent ability to tweak genes to produce so-called designer babies and/or deselect ones of the “wrong” sex sparks visions of Huxley’s nightmarish Brave New World.
But others say they welcome the merging of man and machine, man and manmade-biology and the transhumanist (post human) world this produces. Others say, hey, but what does this mean morally and ethically? How can we be sure that we are doing the right thing? They say we are being overwhelmed by “unnatural” and dangerous change.
Meanwhile, robots and computers are seemingly set to seize our jobs and perhaps even become sentient. Indeed, in a world of driverless cars, human-free factories and robot-operated international space-stations, machines increasingly look like a match for skilled human ‘knowledge workers’. It is feared that our increased reliance on smart machines, coinciding with increasing income inequality, could potentially have social effects similar to those of the original Industrial Revolution. So much so that Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman has declared ‘sympathy for the Luddites’.
Does the contemporary debate recognize some of the costs involved in technological and scientific progress, or is it evading some of the underlying economic, moral and social issues? Or has the new scientific and technological revolution been greatly exaggerated by scientists and techno-fans? If not, are we ready for – or are we even aware of – the ethical and social challenges that lie ahead?
