Technophilies vs
technophobes
My own belief is that humanity is on the threshold of an awesome moral
divide. Recent advances in the technologies of genetic engineering--cloning,
stem-cell research, and the like--confront us with moral problems for which we
have no solution. Perhaps the biggest problem concerns the nature of the
technologies involved.
When we look back over the course of technological development,
especially in the last couple hundred years, it is easy to be a technological
optimist. Science and technology have brought us so many extraordinary advances
that one is tempted to close one’s eyes take a leap of faith when it comes to
technology. No doubt science and technology have brought us many destructive
things, but who except the hermits among us would willing do without the
conveniences--including life-saving conveniences--they have bequeathed us? It
is impossible, I think, for any rational person to say "No" to
science and technology. The benefits are simply too compelling.
But can we afford to acquiesce and simply say "Yes"? Are there
lines to be drawn, limits to be respected? If so, where do we find the criteria
for drawing those lines and limits? There is no simple or pat answer to such
questions. Perhaps the one thing that is certain is that we are operating here
in a realm beyond certainty. No one will come up with a formula that can be
successfully applied to all cases.
There are two dangers. One is the danger of technophobia: retreating
from science and technology because of the moral enormities it makes possible.
The other, more prevalent danger, is technophilia, best summed up in the belief
that "if it can be done, it may be done. There are many things that we can
do that we ought not do. As science and technology develop, we find ourselves
wielding ever greater power. The dark side of power is the temptation to forget
its limitation. Lord Acton was right to warn that "Power corrupts, and
absolute power corrupts absolutely." None of us, of course, really
commands absolute power. Our mortality assures that for all of us--rich and poor,
brilliant and obscure--life will end in the absolute weakness of death.