None of this is to dismiss concerns about genetic engineering. Should the techniques be developed, as now appears likely, there will be significant potential for accidents and abuse, serious issues of distribution and social stratification, questions of homogeneity, and further repercussions, perhaps as wide-ranging as those of industrialization, that we cannot yet predict. Perhaps, in the end, genetic engineering will need to be banned. But there is nothing uniquely apocalyptic about genetic engineering, and we must confront it in the same way we should confront every new development: with our ethics clear and our eyes open.
Stephen E. Sachs '02 is a history concentrator in Quincy House. His column appears on alternate Tuesdays.