Brave New World Speech

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In 1932, a prophetic young novelist warned with cautioning irony, of a genetically engineered dystopian society. He warned of a world where man had conquered nature, where individualism had fallen to conformity and where political power had achieved total social control. He warned of an age where God, poetry, passion and most of all freedom had disappeared from right under humanity’s nose. And finally, he warned of a time when civilization had seemingly turned into robotic life forms, lacking any clear understanding of morals or ethics – it had become essentially soulless. In this make-believe universe, mankind had succeeded in eliminating disease, aggression, war and suffering. This Brave New World had achieved community, identity, stability and a near universal contentment only to be inhabited by creatures of human shape but stunted humanity. Esteemed colleagues of the scientific world, I am here to inform you that this once distant future has now arrived right at our very doorstep. The question I propose is: What do we do about it?

The Pill. Invitro Fertilisation. Bottled embryos. Surrogate wombs. Organ harvesting. Brain implants. Ritalin for the young, Viagra for the old and Prozac for everyone in between. But, out of all these scientific innovations, I proclaim that genetic engineering poses the greatest threat to our way of life. Genetic engineering is what I see as an unbridled journey down an incredibly slippery slope. I warn you today, that human procreation is steadily being replaced by the idea of ‘manufacturing’ our progeny. Unless this concept is reversed, mankind’s movement toward Aldous Huxley’s Hatcheries and Michael Bay’s Island must surely prove irrevocable. Given the intricacies of the human mind, we doubtless possess the potential for reproducing, someday, to the exact specifications, a human person. But should we? Should we really take the first step? Should we really abandon the old-fashioned genetic roulette of sexual reproduction and replace the variegated human race with identical replicas of carefully chosen, ideal human genotypes? So far the scientific world has said no.

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Moreover, we have witnessed an enthralling revolution in history, in which the rapid advancement of technology has allowed us to push back the constraints of human existence. I am of course, talking about the birth of Dolly the sheep. Now Dolly is no ordinary sheep. Yes, she may look like one and act no different to her fellows in the flock, but Dolly was cloned – cloned only nine short years ago. They said for centuries that it could never be done; that it was just not possible, and tampering with DNA would only lead to expected failure. But we ...

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