Homo generator
the challenge of gene technology
pp. 203-225
in: Paul T. Durbin (ed), Technology and responsibility, Berlin, Springer, 1987Abstract
It is the task of gene technology to control genetic behavior, to determine genetic outcome, and to be able to regulate mutations. Whether this occurs with plants, with animals, or with humans marks only a difference in degree, viewed objectively; nonetheless, with respect to public acceptance that difference acquires decisive significance. A mere ten percent of the West German population supports gene technology as applied to humans, whereas almost no one finds the successful genetic manipulation of E. coli bacteria censurable. Gene technology has obviously opened a door which cannot be closed again, but we are frightened for our lives. With gene technology we seem to touch upon the "secret" (Hans Jonas) of life itself, and our reaction to this is highly contradictory. Are we now the "masters of evolution," or has man been dethroned once and for all, "reduced to a handful of kneadable molecules which can be combined with those of other types of living beings" (Der Spiegel,1983, p. 213)? Fear and alarm on one side, a rekindled belief in progress on the other — these are signs of an epic change which has inevitably accompanied the development of gene technology. As with information technology, the other revolution in our global behavior, even prudent observers are torn between hope and fear. The "dignity of man," his inviolable person, seems to be the last guiding star; but on closer inspection it, too, proves to be more a willo'-the wisp.
