Technologies and Ethics

Jordan Olsen

AP English 4

Rough Draft

Technologies and Ethics

Our lives revolve around technology. We are never without our phones, laptop, and other devices. But technologies are advancing in medicine just as fast or faster than in our personal use technologies. The new discoveries, studies, and research in genetics are very influential. As all of these new genetic technologies come about, many people question the morality of them. People also question the morality of the practices in BNW. People also question if the practices in BNW could be accepted by our society. The sciences in BNW could scientifically emerge in our society, but the morality of them would hold us back.

We have different morals than the World State. We can develop our own values, whereas the people in BNW are brainwashed to believe this is acceptable, they don’t know otherwise.

There are many technologies shown BNW. As Mr. Foster walks a class of students down the halls of the decanting center, he explains certain procedures. "Reducing the number of revolutions per minute," Mr. Foster explained. "The surrogate goes round slower; therefore passes through the lung at longer intervals; therefore gives the embryo less oxygen. Nothing like oxygen-shortage for keeping an embryo below par." Again he rubbed his hands. …"The lower the caste," said Mr. Foster, "the shorter the oxygen." The first organaffected was the brain. After that the skeleton. At seventy per cent of normal oxygen you got dwarfs. At less than seventy eyeless monsters.” (Huxley 14). Giving an embryo less oxygen could be used in processes and research in today’s society, but we have no motive or plan to complete this action. People may also see this as unethical because the embryo isn’t given a choice in the matter. Other processes were also explained by Mr. Foster. "These," he waved his hand, "are the incubators." And opening an insulated door he showed them racks upon racks of numbered test-tubes. "The week's supply of ova. Kept," he explained, "at blood heat; whereas the male gametes," and here he opened another door, "they have to be kept at thirty-five instead of thirty-seven. Full blood heat sterilizes." (Huxley 5). Although our society stores ova in female bodies instead of in test tubes, it could be possible to store the ova using the technology that is available today. But there is also the ethical argument that comes into play.

Now, getting more specific, Mr. Foster explains the bokanovsky process. “A bokanovskified egg will bud, will proliferate, will divide. From eight to ninety-six buds, and every bud will grow into a perfectly formed embryo, and every embryo into a full sized adult.” (Huxley 4). This process produces mass amounts of humans in a small amount of time. This technology could be possible, and can be compared to other scientific research that is currently being used. One process in which our society has considered in research is cloning. As Leon Kass explains her ideas of the sciences inBNW, she says:

Prozac is not yet Huxley's "soma"; cloning by nuclear transfer or splitting embryos is not exactly "Bokanovskification"; MTV and virtualreality parlors are not quite the "feelies"; and our current safe and consequence less sexual practices are not universally as loveless oras empty as those in the novel. But the kinships are disquieting, all the more so since our technologies of bio-psycho-engineering are still in their infancy, and in ways that make all too clear what they might look like in their full maturity.” (Kass 1). In her article, she reveals how close we are to theBNWsociety. She shows that although we are not living it, it is in our reach. The only thing keeping us away from these powerful technologies is our moral standards and ethics.