Human Dignity and Bioethics

7
Human Dignity and
the Future of Man
Charles Rubin
W
e are accustomed to the fact that modern science and technology
allow people to lead healthier, wealthier and even happier
lives by reducing disease and disability and opening up new opportunities
for thought and action. Furthermore, we expect the future to
look like the past in this respect, perhaps even more so as our knowledge
of nature expands. So it is hardly surprising to find that expected
advances in biotechnology focus on gene therapies to correct
heritable defects, 1 or that nanotechnology promises tiny machines
that could monitor our health or repair cell damage from the inside, 2
or that artificial intelligence and robotics are being developed to enhance
the mobility of those with missing or non-functioning limbs. 3
What is surprising is that, in some quarters, speculation about the
uses of these technologies embraces the ardent hope that human beings
will soon arrange to replace themselves with a vastly improved
“Mark II” version. Even a healthy human being, these enthusiasts
reason, is subject to all kinds of limits that we can imagine overcoming.
Why be satisfied with senses that perceive in the limited range of
our own? 4 Why accept that we must sleep, eat and excrete as we now
do? 5 Why be content with the clumsy media of spoken or written
language for learning and for the exchange of our thoughts? 6 Why
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