Cutting-Edge Bioethics: A Christian Exploration of Technologies and Trends / Edition 1

by John F. Kilner

Overview

This book from the Center for Bioethics and Human Dignity provides a faith-based evaluation of recent technologies and trends in bioethics--including the current debate surrounding stem cell research. Fifteen noted scholars and medical practitioners discuss some of today's new and controversial work in biomedicine--xenotransplantation, artificial intelligence, cybernetics, and more--and evaluate from a Christian perspective both the science and the ethical questions it raises. Designed to orient general readers to the current state of biomedical research, Cutting-Edge Bioethics is must reading for anyone wishing to confront and wrestle with the challenging moral issues posed by this ever-advancing field.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780802849595
Publisher:	Eerdmans, William B. Publishing Company
Publication date:	04/11/2002
Series:	A Horizon in Bioethics Series Book
Pages:	216
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.46(d)

About the Author

Director of the Center for Bioethics and Human Dignity inBannockburn, Illinois.

John F. Kilner holds the endowed Forman Chair of Christian Ethics and Theology at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and serves as the director of bioethics degree programs at Trinity International University, Deerfield, Illinois.

Read an Excerpt

Cutting-Edge Bioethics

A Christian Exploration of Technologies and Trends

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Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company

Copyright © 2002 Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company
All right reserved.
ISBN: 0-8028-4959-8

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Introduction

This moment in history is a crucial point for the human race. New technologies promise vast improvements in health care and for the first time genuinely present the possibility of overcoming major disabilities such as blindness and paralysis. But at the same time these technologies may prove devastating: promoting loss or erosion of personal identity, tightening the new shackles of an ever more powerful technological tyranny, or even contributing to the destruction of our species.

Genetics, cybernetics, and nanotechnology, for example, each promises to reverse or eliminate many disease states and physical limitations. Yet each may also be used for augmentation purposes to pursue the engineering of "better" human beings. If augmentation is permitted and uncritically embraced by medical and other communities, discrimination against the unenhanced will quickly follow. In a culture already deeply fragmented, such technologies - if not appropriately restricted - could lead to the further breakdown of the social matrix. At this point, there is no clear set of definitions demarcating the line between disease and trait - between therapy and augmentation. Meanwhile, tools such as nanotechnology and genetic engineering which can manipulate matter at the most minuscule level may be marvelous tools to treat cancer,coronary artery disease, and certain infectious diseases. Yet any tool that can operate at this level could also be turned into a new plague to destroy rather than heal.

Most frightening about our day, however, is not the development of new technologies. Rather, it is the fact that technologies with this much power are arising at a time when humanity may not be capable of developing them responsibly. We find ourselves in an environment increasingly relativisitic, morally adrift, and hostile to God. A true understanding of human nature and our responsibilities to our Creator and each other has been replaced with a materialistic nihilism giving birth to a school of thought called transhumanism. Transhumanism, or post-humanism as it is sometimes called, has an open contempt for God's created order, believes that humanity is something to be overcome and replaced by our technologies, and advocates that a new species or several new species of techno sapiens should be created to fulfill our "evolutionary destiny." While most individuals today are not transhumanists, the uncritical adoption of new technologies will enlist more and more individuals as unwitting participants in the fulfillment of transhumanist goals.

This brings us to the importance of the present volume. If humanity is to survive in the future, we must reverse the trends of the past. We cannot continue to be surprised by new technologies - forced to scramble to perform the ethical analysis and implement means of control. We must prospectively engage technologies that are surely coming, doing the ethical analysis now and proposing and implementing the safeguards before the technology is unleashed. This book is therefore intended as a wake-up call, an invitation to look to the near future and see what is coming soon so that we can carry out the critical task of analysis and engagement. At the same time as it helps prepare us for tomorrow, this book is also designed to strengthen our engagement of cutting-edge challenges in health care today - issues that have warranted more widespread attention long before now. Another major goal of this book is to demonstrate the critical importance of God's perspective in the evaluative process. Only as we respect God's design and plans for humanity can there be any long-term hope of protecting and preserving human significance and dignity - in fact the very species homo sapiens, the bearer of the image of God.

The book opens with a section on emerging technologies, in order to establish at the outset a concrete sense of what is possible today and likely in the future. Francis Collins, head of the Human Genome Project to map the human genetic code, begins the analysis with an examination of progress in genetics and its ethical implications. Oxford University's David Cook follows with an exploration of using animal body parts in humans, so-called xenotransplantation. Scientists Nancy Jones and Linda Bevington then consider related issues at the more minute level of transgenics: mixing the genetic material from various species, including humans. This opening section also looks farther into the future, beginning with researcher Robert Garcia's account of the directions that artificial intelligence efforts are taking. To what extent will human beings ultimately be necessary in the world of tomorrow? Mayo Clinic's Christopher Hook joins Garcia's consideration of that question by looking at how mechanical technologies will increasingly replace bodily functions and activities, courtesy of the rapidly developing fields of cybernetics and nanotechnology. What emerges from this section is a clear sense of the awesome significance of what is unfolding in the realm of biotechnology - and the importance of addressing the ethical challenges today.

In order to meet such challenges, however, a clearer understanding of critical contextual issues such as culture, technology, and ethics is essential. The book's second section is devoted to furthering such understanding. The section begins with medical ethicist John Patrick's investigation of the multiculturalism of today's world. Widely traveled, and based outside the United States, Patrick brings an international perspective to some of the cultural dynamics involved in translating scientific developments into medicine. Theological ethicist Daryl Sas then homes in on the issue of technology itself, formulating insights that can help us grapple with the particular technologies of our day, such as stem cell research. Francis Cardinal George concludes this section with a consideration of the ethical vision necessary if we are to be able to resist destructive temptations and forces and channel scientific and medical developments in ways that will truly be a blessing to the human race.

While major developments are under way in science - with great implications for health care-there are also hugely significant cutting-edge developments today in health care itself that warrant special attention. The book's third section tackles such developments first through business ethicist Scott Rae's analysis of economic and business forces that are shaping the direction of health care in important ways. Next, nursing specialist Dónal O'Mathúna evaluates emerging trends in spirituality and alternative medicine. Physician Mary Adam then singles out for careful consideration an ethically- charged area of medicine particularly in need of greater insight and initiative: the prevention of sexually transmitted diseases such as AIDS. Health educator Diann Uustal concludes the section with a critical assessment of the state of "care" in health care today - and what needs to be put in place for tomorrow.

Armed with an understanding of emerging technologies, growing cultural challenges, and the changing face of health care, we cannot help but wonder what we are to do with this understanding. The fourth and final section of the book addresses this question in three ways. First, futurist Richard Swenson offers an overview of the broad range of developments in science and medicine and considers how to cope with such a plethora of change. Legal and media specialist Helen Alvare then speaks to the media and public policy challenges and opportunities created by scientific and medical developments. The book concludes with theological ethicist Ben Mitchell's clarification of what is at stake ethically in all of this, and the kind of proactive engagement that is necessary if science and medicine are to make good on their promises at a price that humanity can afford to pay.

Needless to say, any work such as this is a team effort in ways far from obvious. Those acknowledged here are representative of a far greater array of people who have had some hand in carrying out this project. We are deeply grateful to Jay Hollman, without whose support and vision this project would not have been possible. Jon Pott and the Eerdmans staff were of tremendous help in shepherding this work through the editorial process, as was Laura Hepker at The Center for Bioethics and Human Dignity. Reviewers too numerous to mention worked with the book's outstanding team of authors to produce the final text printed here. And we would be remiss if we did not also give ultimate thanks to God-Creator, Healer, and Comforter - who offers profound wisdom for tackling the awesome bioethical challenges facing the human race. Though we have undoubtedly grasped here but a small portion of this wisdom - and that imperfectly - it is our hope that this book and the ongoing work of the Center will encourage an aggressive search for the wisdom that humanity needs for a healthy future.

John F. Kilner, Ph.D. C. Christopher Hook, M.D. Diann B. Uustal, R.N., Ed.D.

(Continues...)

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