This person is reacting to the reaction to the news of adult stem-cell generated artificial sperm, but there are lots of knee-jerk slippery-slopists out there.
While I agree with the general tone of the argument, I think there's a point to worrying about technology--the more groundbreaking it is, the more it has the power to drastically change our lives, and not always in a positive or intended way.
Take, for example, the linked author's discussion of the pill. It was wrong to target it for medical reasons, but it did have huge effects on our society and how we think about sex and families. Moreover, she lauds it as one of the things that helped bring about women's liberation--true, and a good thing indeed!--but we're still feeling the aftershocks. One of the consequences of women pursuing careers and the more modern conception of families is that charities that relied on the many hours put in by housewives have faltered--check out Robert Putnam's book, Bowling Alone. Things don't happen in isolation.
Does that mean we should have worried that the pill was going to bring the apocalypse? No. Did it actually bring about radical change, perhaps totally reshaping the society at the time? Yeah, it actually did.
Science tends to give us new tools without telling us how we should use them. I think it's good to think long and hard about not only what wonderful things may come, but the possible pitfalls that science might, and has, fallen into.
While I agree with the general tone of the argument, I think there's a point to worrying about technology--the more groundbreaking it is, the more it has the power to drastically change our lives, and not always in a positive or intended way.
ReplyDeleteTake, for example, the linked author's discussion of the pill. It was wrong to target it for medical reasons, but it did have huge effects on our society and how we think about sex and families. Moreover, she lauds it as one of the things that helped bring about women's liberation--true, and a good thing indeed!--but we're still feeling the aftershocks. One of the consequences of women pursuing careers and the more modern conception of families is that charities that relied on the many hours put in by housewives have faltered--check out Robert Putnam's book, Bowling Alone. Things don't happen in isolation.
Does that mean we should have worried that the pill was going to bring the apocalypse? No. Did it actually bring about radical change, perhaps totally reshaping the society at the time? Yeah, it actually did.
Science tends to give us new tools without telling us how we should use them. I think it's good to think long and hard about not only what wonderful things may come, but the possible pitfalls that science might, and has, fallen into.