Science and Technology - A2 Religious Studies

What Could Embryo Experimentation Help to Treat?

♥ Alzheimer's disease ♥ Huntington's disease ♥ Diabetes ♥ Parkinson's disease

Animal Testing vs. Human Testing

♥ Animal testing forms part of the process involved in gaining a licence to sell a medicine in developed countries. ♥ The human testers have to give their informed consent in order for such testing to be ethical.

Ethical Issues with Animal Experimentation

♥ Animals still experience pain. ♥ Animals are unable to give consent. ♥ Animals are not given the same moral consideration ♥ They are not treated as moral persons. ♥ They have far fewer rights than human beings

Ethical Concerns of Cloning

♥ Can cause abnormalities - Majority of the attempts for cloning have had major abnormalities in the organism as a result. Also, though a change in mood may not be important for animals, it could mean that we create someone who is dangerous and ethically irresponsible. ♥ Limits genetic diversity - While lessening the diversity in genes, we weaken our ability of adaptation. The more clones we have in society the less diversity we have. We could effectively halt the process of evolution. ♥ Violates the sanctity of life - Christians believe that life is sacred. Cloning involves the discarding of unviable embryos. As each life is sacred from conception, cloning violates the sanctity of life. ♥ Could create social inequalities - Therapeutic cloning when developed will be highly expensive. The cloning of organs will be particularly expensive. Only the rich would be able to access cloning. ♥ Slippery slope - Never Let Me Go (2010); clones being created so that we can harvest organs from them.

Cloning

♥ Cloning creates a genetically identical copy of a being. ♥ Dolly the sheep was the first clone made from an adult cell. ♥ Therapeutic: cloning particular cells, cloning organs. ♥ Reproductive: cloning an individual as an alternative to IVF. ♥ EXAMPLE: Dolly the sheep

Arguments Against Animal Testing

♥ Does not consider animal welfare spiciest - Cat experimentation in 1960. Cats were mutilated and had parts of their brains removed. How does this benefit human beings? ♥ Unreliable - The reaction of a drug in an animal's body is quite different from the reaction in a human. EXAMPLE: Rats are able to drink bleach without issue whilst humans cannot. ♥ Cost - Animal testing generally costs an enormous amount of money. Animals must be fed, housed, cared for and treated with drugs or a similar experimental substance. ♥ Waste of life - In animal testing, countless animals are experimented on and then killed after their use. Others are injured and will still live the remainder of their lives in captivity. Majority of the experiments never bear fruit.

Drone Warfare

♥ Drones are unmanned planes used in combat and to carry out missions targeted against enemies. ♥ Supposed to be precise and avoid civilians. ♥ The U.S. has used drones illegally in Pakistan which makes any deaths murder. ♥ EXAMPLE: A drone recently bombed a terrorist when he was in a taxi, and this attack killed him. However, the taxi driver - an innocent person - was killed in the process. ♥ Slippery Slope - Autonomous drones which kill people of their own volition; this leaves the ethics down to the software.

Embryo Experimentation

♥ Embryo experimentation is the use of human embryos for medical testing purposes. ♥ These embryos the bi-product of IVF have been donated by people who have no use for them anymore. ♥ Embryos are not fertilised specifically for testing. ♥ Legally they can only be used before they are 14 days old (the primitive streak)

Human Rights

♥ Equality before the law ♥ Protection from arbitrary arrest ♥ The right to a fair trail ♥ Freedom from ex post facto criminal laws ♥ Freedom of thought ♥ Freedom of conscience and religion ♥ Freedom of opinion and expression ♥ Freedom of peaceful assembly and association

Religion and Science in Conflict Examples

♥ Galileo spent his life under house arrest after claiming that the planets orbited the sun. ♥ Copernicus and Johannes Kepler suffered similar fates. ♥ Darwin - was challenged by the Church and denounced as a heretic. The debate over evolution continues to this day.

Biblical Quotes For Technology

♥ Genesis 6 = Noah's Ark. ♥ The creation of the Tabernacle (the chest with the tablets for the ten commandments). Created according to God's instructions. ♥ Parable of the Talents = we should use our talents to create technologies.

Positives of Cloning

♥ Helps cure diseases - The overall benefits of cloning, the possible treatments that could be made available to sufferers of conditions such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease, far outweigh any objections to the use of embryos in experimentation and research. ♥ Can't feel pain - Gregory E. Pence states that human cloning would not be harmful as embryos cannot be harmed. This is a Utilitarian response. ♥ No new ethical problem - Stephen Jay Gould states that twins are technically clones and yet they can live completely different lives from one another without issue. ♥ Worth the risk - Gives couples the ability to have children (something they may not have been able to do any other way), and would lead to a progression in society.

Arguments For Animal Testing

♥ Helps research - Many medical treatments have been made possible by animal testing, including cancer and HIV drugs, insulin, antibiotics, vaccines etc. ♥ Animals do not matter as much as people - Michael A. Fox stated that we have no duty to animals at all. Fox defined members of the moral community as those who could make free rational decisions and were truly persons. ♥ Ensures the safety of drugs - Drugs in particular can carry significant dangers with their use but animal testing allows researchers to initially gauge the safety of drugs prior to commencing trials on humans. ♥ Similar results to humans - Scientists typically use animals for testing purposes because they are considered similar to humans.

Utilitarian Perspective on Technology

♥ If an invention contributes to the greater good of society then it is ethically justifiable (the greatest good for the greatest number). ♥ We can benefit from inventions i.e. CCTV and Nuclear Weapons increase our security.

CCTV

♥ In every major city there are cameras monitoring what you do. ♥ There does not need to be explicit consent to be monitored - one has consented by being present within society. ♥ If someone does not have something to hide they should not be fearful of CCTV. ♥ POSITIVE: A Utilitarian would argue that the use of CCTV could save lives i.e. witnessing a theft or murder. ♥ It limiting ones freedom and it undermines our dignity; the use of CCTV is unintentionally proclaiming that the human race cannot be trusted to act in an ethical manner. ♥ Slippery Slope: CCTV being present in everyone's homes and everywhere in the world. You cannot act without being monitored. 1984 - omnipresent government monitoring - new laws could be developed which constrict society. The CCTV stopped people from committing crimes so new irrational 'crimes' were developed i.e. putting milk in your tea before hot water.

Arguments Against Human Experimentation

♥ Informed consent - the men of the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment were not informed that they were given syphilis. This put their loved ones in danger. A lack of informed consent undermines someone's dignity. ♥ Unequal society - those who are seen as 'lower' members of society may be experimented on i.e. homeless people, drug addicts etc. ♥ Abuse and a Slippery slope - may begin to perform experiments which will not advance science (the person is doing it for their own enjoyment). Stealing people off of the streets to experiment on them.

Biblical Quotes Against Technology

♥ Isaiah 44:9-20 = 'all who make idols are nothing'. - Technology is considered to be a false idol. We are worshiping our technologies instead of God. ♥ Daniel 4:30-32 = pride in our accomplishments is wrong. Daniel interprets King Nebuchadnezzar's dream of the tree to show how glory only belongs to God. ♥ Genesis 11:5-9 = Story of the tower of Babel. God scattered its builders across the earth and confused their languages to hinder their plans.

Can a scientific discovery be 'undiscovered'?

♥ It could be argued that once we can clone human beings, someone somewhere in the world will clone them. ♥ Once a thing becomes possible it is done. ♥ Atom bombs, genetic engineering, embryo research, cloning, etc. ♥ Opponents of new technologies argue that they should be abandoned. ♥ So for instance, all nuclear weapons should be dismantled or cloning prohibited. ♥ We cannot undiscover something as the knowledge is already there; if we know that something can be done we will do it.

What is technology?

♥ Machinery and devices developed from scientific knowledge. ♥ Drones ♥ Self-Driving Cars ♥ Nuclear Weapons ♥ CCTV ♥ Databases i.e. schools, hospitals, tax authorities, supermarkets etc.

Databases

♥ Makes it easier to access healthcare, education, and aids with shopping (i.e. rewards cards) ♥ However, having this much information about oneself undermines our right to privacy.

Arguments For Human Experimentation

♥ More accurate results - animal experimentation does not hold conclusive results for humans i.e. paracetamol is dangerous for cats but not for humans. ♥ Security of mind - know that the experiments will mean a better future for human beings ♥ Prevents disasters - could prevent large spread diseases like Ebola or the Zika virus as we would be able to experiment to cure them.

Arguments For Embryo Experimentation

♥ Peter Singer - Key Theorist ♥ The embryo is not a person - The argument in favour of embryo research is that before the primitive streak an embryo is NOT THE SAME AS A PERSON. It has value but not the same as an older entity. At 14 days the embryo has no features we would expect in a human. The embryo has no consciousness and no nervous system. ♥ The embryo is no different to sperm or eggs - They too could be seen as potential human beings, which simply require a human action for their potential to be realised. When an embryo is isolated in the laboratory, it too requires human action for its potential to be realised.

Ethics and Science

♥ Science needs ethics. ♥ Without it, science will be unchecked. ♥ Inventions and advancements, despite being many and with speed, could lead us into a world which we do not want to live in i.e. 1984, Brave New World.

Self-Driving Cars

♥ Self-driving cars are cars which can act autonomously without the input of the driver themselves. ♥ If used correctly they could lower the amount of collisions as everyone will be driving legally and not speeding; the programming of the car will not allow this. ♥ However, if the car's software itself was hacked it could lead to disaster. ♥ EXAMPLE: Tesla cars automatically update when there is new software available for the car. You do not need to confirm the update as it automatically happens without your input. However, if someone hacked the software they could potentially programme every Tesla car to speed up when they see another car and therefore crash into them. ♥ Can self-driving cars mirror the human ethical system? ♥ EXAMPLE: A car is driving down a two way road and there is a tree blocking the path. If the car swerves to the right another car will be hit. If the car swerves to the left a pedestrian will be hit. If the car stops the bus behind will crash into the car. If the car goes forward it will crash into the tree. How would a self-driving car behave in this situation? Can it correctly reflect the decision in which the driver wished to make?

Human Experimentation Example

♥ Thalidomide - Drug to combat morning sickness. - Testing was inadequate, resulting in terrible effects on the children of women who had taken the drug in their pregnancies. - Approx. 20,000 children were born with severe malformities. - Because of cases such as the Thalidomide catastrophe, regulations require new drugs to be tested on both animals and consenting humans.

Ethical Issues with Human Experimentation

♥ The doctors, scientists and researchers have a duty to act ethically in the production of new drugs, both in their preparation and also in the testing. ♥ There needs to be open and honest publication of results - If a doctor or drug company knows of side effects to their drugs, these must be published. Not doing this causes doubt in the integrity of the industry. ♥ Doctors take the Hippocratic oath, which begins 'first do no harm' - human experimentation conflicts with this. ♥ They have a professional ethical duty to the public, their patients, those involved in the production of new medicines and the profession.

Arguments Against Embryo Experimentation

♥ The embryo has features that indicate that it is an individual - The formation of the embryonic disk shows that the embryo is an individual, self-developing human organism. ♥ It is a person - Christian absolutists who argue for full rights from the point of conception do not believe that uncertainty about whether it is one or two beings is sufficient to merit the withdrawal of rights from the embryo. Genesis 1:27 'in the image of God he created them'. Jeremiah 1:5 'Before you were formed in the body of your mother I had knowledge of you'. ♥ Totalitarian Society - This desire for genetic perfection will lead us to disastrous circumstances. If we destroy embryos with genetic defects why not destroy humans with genetic defects? We can justify anything in the name of the 'greater good'.

Why Do We Need Testing?

♥ The ideas that procedures should be tested before becoming widely available is vital. ♥ So the solution is to invite testers to give informed consent with the promise of further treatment and support if the test goes wrong. ♥ Medical procedures and treatments need to be practised first, and established as safe by testing on human beings. ♥ This is part of the responsibility that doctors and government regulatory authorities have to individual patients and the general public.

Nuclear Weapons

♥ There are nine countries in the world who have declared that they possess nuclear weapons. ♥ EXAMPLES: Hiroshima and Nagasaki were bombed with nuclear weapons in WWII. ♥ A Utilitarian would argue that the use of nuclear weapons may be able to save lives (i.e. if a dangerous threat was present in that country) so therefore it could be justifiable. ♥ Jeremy Corbyn wishes to get rid of Trident (the UK's nuclear weapons) as he believes we do not need them. His argument is that: if no one had nuclear weapons, no one would feel the need to use something so destructive. ♥ Slippery Slope: If one of the nine countries set of their nuclear weapons, it would most likely lead to a chain reaction where the other countries did so to. They would feel that since one country set theirs off it was justifiable to respond as such. This could lead to the end of the world itself.

Benefits of Reproductive Cloning

♥ This would benefit those who cannot reproduce naturally, and for whom IVF does not work. ♥ It is also of benefit to homosexual couples who can clone themselves and raise the clone as a child.

Kantian Perspective on Technology

♥ Treating people as ends in themselves is key ♥ An invention which does not satisfy this requirement of the categorical imperative cannot be justified. ♥ EXAMPLE: Cloning cannot be justified as the embryos are being used as a 'means to an end'. This undermines individual dignity. ♥ CONTEMPORARY EXAMPLE: Never Let Me Go (2010) - Directed by Mark Romanek and based on the novel by Kazuo Ishiguro.

Benefits of Therapeutic Cloning

♥ Treatment for degenerative diseases: The human body's specialised cells cannot be replaced by natural processes. Medical conditions that seriously damage them or leave them diseased - such as Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease - are particularly difficult to treat. ♥ There is an acute shortage of donated healthy organs, and cloning technology could be used to grow the required cell tissue using stem cells.

The Ethics of Invention

♥ We are a creative species. ♥ We have the ability to reason and we have problem solving abilities. ♥ This has lead to us creating many products and processes that have had a large impact on the human experience. ♥ However, there are ethical implications.