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More Human Than Human
    The ability to interface biological material with electronic material is the first step toward being able to use such systems in human beings for a variety of purposes, from the correction of all sorts of physical disorders to making more efficient interfaces for the technology we use everyday.
    The same technology, however, also brings to mind ethical and moral questions that the development of such technology seems to ignore as it moves forward. In much the same way as the stem-cell research debate tried to sidestep those issues, the researchers trying to put technology into us want to avoid the sticky questions of ‘should we’ and ‘if so, how’.
    For the record, I personally believe that the technology in question is essentially neutral, that is that it has no positive or negative moral or ethical value. Instead, I believe that the real question is not one of the technology itself, but its application. There is little doubt that we will eventually achieve the ability to interface biology and electronics in such a way that this fusion will be greater than the sum of its parts, and before we arrive at that time, we should all consider how such technology can be morally and ethically applied.
    The answers to these questions are complex and not necessarily immediately obvious, but they still must be addressed, not just by scientists, ethicists, and scholars, but by everyone who will eventually be faced with choices regarding such technology. Consider that twenty years ago no one though about the radical change that computing technology brought about in our modern era. Now, we all struggle to deal with the complex moral and ethical issues that computing technology has brought to all of us.
    In the end, the future holds a whole new generation of advancements that will startle and dazzle us. Being prepared for those advancements when they come will help us use them to their best effect.
DLH
