People have varied reactions to technology. Some, like Ned, would like to live the simple life - relatively machine-free. Others embrace new forms of technology. For them it is like an ongoing supply of Christmas toys. Many find themselves somewhere between these two positions (depending perhaps on their frustration level with cranky machines on any particular day!)

Machines are tools which have revolutionized the way we communicate, cook, perform scientific experiments, transport ourselves, deliver medical treatments, and build, to name but a few. There seems little chance that this field of machine research and development will stall. Machines do make our lives easier. They even make possible things we could not do ourselves.

Machines are not however, an unmixed blessing. We choose to invest our time and money in them because we believe that the benefits they offer are worth it. At the same time, having access to a machine increases our expectations and standards. For example, the expectations for household cleanliness rose as we developed clothes washers and vacuum cleaners and hot water tanks. Similarly, the fact that you are accessing the Internet means that your ability to tap into knowledge worldwide is now a part of your expectations in life. This wasn’t so in your parents’ day when knowledge was limited by the availability of local experts and by the books in local libraries.

Another implication of having machines and technology is that they require us to make ethical choices on their use. By putting before us options and possibilities which didn’t exist before, technologies call for us to ask new questions or rework old answers. This is particularly so in today’s society when we struggle with the micro-technologies of the biological sciences - cloning, stem cell research, genetic modification. We have to wrestle with the appropriate use and limitations of their place in our society. We will need to ask some deep questions about what it means to be human. We will have to think morally about technology.

for Reflection:

• Outline some of your thoughts and feelings on these new biological and biomedical technologies.
• How have you come to these views?