In chapter 5 of The Biotech Century, Rifkin takes a stand on the nature side of the debate. He backs his positon up by citing several examples of genetic research that have reported on finding links among genes and psychological diseases. I chiefly believe that the nature plays more significant role in shaping human life in general than the nurture. Although it will take tme for the scinence community to draw important connections between our DNA machinery and the diseases that are caused by it, I do think that genes imbedded in the DNA molecule plays the most important role in IQ determinance, alcoholism, depression and so on... On page 152, Rifkin writes, " mice lacking 5-HTib receptor gene drank twice as much alcohol as normal mice when given a choice of drinking water spiked with ethanol or plain water..." This clearly illustrates why genes are involved in alcohol addition. Alcoholism is 50% genetic disease, which should alarm the alcoholic parents to concern about theit children's future. Thus, the children of alcoholic parents are more likely to be addicted to alcohol than those of non-alcoholic parents. After reading 'The Sociology of the Gene', I strongly think that genes play a major role in determining many of our behaviors. There is no doubt about that. The challenging quesiton in the future of the Biotech Century is not -what genes are involved in what kind of behavior. Rather it is HOW do the different sequences of genes biologically affect certain type of behavior.
In chapter 1, Rifkin introduces the readers to the positive and negative consequences of the ambitious development of the biotechnology in the first chapter. Although Rifkin explains how the biotechnology is boon to the public health, the tone he carries throughout seems to be actually against the further advancement of the biotechnology. The author warns his readers on how biotech corporations can patent gene sequences and influence the public in a desired way. This can bring about bad consequences for the public. It basically allows these companies as well as the government to directly get involved in our lives possibly threatening the fundamental right of privacy. The biotech projects such as Human Genome Project maps out the entire human gene sequence. Allowing these projects and alike to go on can make tremendous genetic information available to employers, schools, and govt. agencies. This can bring unprecedented consequences such as alleged discrimination based on the genetic information of the person. It allows institutions to discriminate against people of certain ethnicity or race. Once the genetic info is available, it is not hard for ordinary people to somehow get access to it. Since the genetic information tells a lot about the future of a person, it can be manipulated by various institutions as well as people. This can ultimately lead to what Rifkin calls “informal bio caste system.” So far, the views of the author seem to coincide with those of Fukuyama, because both have attempted to warn the public about the negative consequences.
In the article The Slippery Slope, although Francis Fukuyama makes a strong argument against the advancement of biotechnology in US, I tend to agree with Gregory Stock on issues like sex selection, and embryonic stem-cell research. It is important publicly and politically for out country to be the front runner in the field of biotechnology. For instance, the development of artificial organs, such as artificial heart, brings life to people who may not otherwise expect to survive if there were restrictions on the development of biotech tools. I strongly support embryonic stem-cell research to be performed in US. As the outcome of this kind of research, as Stock puts it, “the medical community may be able to treat Alzheimer’s disease or diabetes. Although I believe that the application of stem-cell research will pose medical problems in society, the benefits from this research are far more important than the medical problems it may bring. Speaking of sex selection, Francis’s fear about social problems the sex selection may bring is irrational. Sex selection is a boon to the people, especially children, who think their body is “trapped” in a wrong sex. Although Francis is right about the incest sex selection may bring, there are laws that can prevent such malice acts from happening. To put into a sentence, Stock does a great job in showing the possibility of the development of biotechnology. At the same time, he argues well with Francis in stating that Francis’s fear does not offer any real solution to the issues being raised in the article. Not letting society take advantage of the latest biotechnology is nothing more than stepping down the slippery slope.
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