Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
1
Introduction
Harold W. Baillie and Timothy K. Casey
Ours is the age of technology. What this means exactly has for some time
now been the subject of intense debate that spans the entire spectrum of
opinion from Luddism to the most unabashed technophilia. Technology,
in one form or another, has always been a significant element of the
human condition, but never has it been so ubiquitous and determinative
of who and what we think we are. Cyborgs, artificial intelligence,
cloning, and genetic engineering—all are indicative of a swiftly moving
reality we struggle to make sense of in the absence of traditional sign-
posts and historical precedents. What distinguishes modern technology
from all other types, both premodern and non-Western, is its exclusive
focus on the perfection of technical procedures and processes that had
historically been subordinate to supratechnical norms and standards,
usually of a moral, political, and religious nature. The underlying
assumption in this revolutionary shift in orientation is the radical sepa-
ration of technical and humanistic concerns. This divorce expresses itself
in the widely held belief that technology is a neutral tool whose internal
operations fall under a kind of immunity from the judgmental gaze of
ethicists and metaphysicians, reducing their role, with few exceptions, to
commentary on what is essentially a fait accompli. Environmental and
medical ethics in particular rarely, if ever, get to question ongoing scien-
tific research and its technological applications, but instead have been
limited to reacting to discoveries and products and their possible rami-
fications on the natural and human worlds.
The power and unpredictability of modern technology outstrip tradi-
tional ways of thinking and judging at every turn. The reasons for this
novel situation are too many and complex to be examined here, but a
few remarks are in order to shed light on the problems presented by
