Overview
What does it mean to be human ?
Recent developments in science have given us the power to create life, to sustain it, and to examine the genetic recipes of each individual. Yet far from improving our understanding of humanity such possibilities raise ever more complex issues. The tendency is to make life simple by focusing in single aspects of our existence, but whilst reducing ourselves to a single facet, such as genetic make-up or brain function, may be useful for law making, it reveals only a shadow of the true complexity of what it is to be a human being.
This book provides a timely reminder that technology cannot be separated from its impact on real people. Medical developments offer tremendous opportunities for good, but if we loose sight of what it is to be human they also have the ability to be used for very dangerous, even evil purposes.