Respected Mr. President, dear faculty and students,
Thank you for inviting me to talk about the emerging biological revolution.
In his book Brave New World, published in 1932, Aldous Huxley predicted a big biotechnological revolution about to take place: the hatching of people not in wombs but in test tubes; the drug which gave people instant happiness; the sensation which was simulated by implanted electrodes; and modification of behavior through the administration of various artificial hormones. With 70 years of separating us from the publication of this book, we can see that Huxley's technological predictions are surprisingly accurate. Many of the technologies that Huxley envisioned are already here or just over the horizon. But this revolution has only just begun. New breakthroughs in biomedical technology are announced daily; achievements such as the completion of the human genome project portend much more serious changes to come.
尊敬的校長先生、各位老師和同學(xué)：
感謝你們邀請我來談一下正在發(fā)生的生物革命。
奧爾德斯·赫胥黎在其1932年出版的《奇妙新世界》一書中預(yù)言了一場即將發(fā)生的生物技術(shù)大革命。赫胥黎預(yù)示，人類可以在試管里而不是在子宮里孕育，藥物可以即刻給人以快感，植入體內(nèi)的電極可以給人以刺激，輸入不同的人造荷爾蒙可以改變?nèi)说男袨?。此書問?0年后，我們看到赫胥黎對技術(shù)發(fā)展的預(yù)言是如此驚人的精確，所預(yù)言的許多技術(shù)已經(jīng)誕生或即將誕生。但是這場革命還只是剛拉開了序幕。在生物醫(yī)學(xué)技術(shù)領(lǐng)域里，每天都有新的突破。人類基因組項(xiàng)目的完成預(yù)示了將要出現(xiàn)更為重大的變革。
According to Huxley, the most significant threat posed by contemporary biotechnology is the possibility that it will alter human nature and thereby move us into a "posthuman" stage of history. This is important because human nature exists and defines us as a species with a stable continuity. It is what defines our most basic values. Medical technology offers us in many cases a devil's bargain: longer life, but with reduced mental capacity; freedom from depression, together with freedom from creativity or spirit. It will blur the line between what we achieve on our own and what we achieve because of the levels of various chemicals in our brains.
Consider the following three scenarios, all of which are distinct possibilities that may unfold over the next generation or two.
赫胥黎認(rèn)為，當(dāng)代生物技術(shù)對人類構(gòu)成的最嚴(yán)重的威脅有可能改變?nèi)诵?，從而把我們帶入“后人類”的歷史階段。赫胥黎的預(yù)警很重要，因?yàn)槿诵源_實(shí)存在，人性界定著我們這個具有穩(wěn)定延續(xù)性的物種，同時又界定著我們最基本的價值觀。醫(yī)學(xué)技術(shù)在許多方面為我們提供了一種魔鬼的交易：我們雖然延長了壽命，但是腦力卻減退了。我們雖可免患憂郁癥，但是也失去了創(chuàng)造力和靈氣。我們無法區(qū)分哪些成就是我們自身努力的結(jié)果，哪些成果是由我們大腦里的化學(xué)物質(zhì)造就的。
我們不妨考慮一下未來一兩代人可能會遇到的三種情形。
The first has to do with new drugs. We know human personality is plastic. Psychotropic drugs can affect traits like self -esteem and the ability to concentrate. Stolid people can become vivacious; introspective ones extroverts; you can adopt one personality on Wednesday and another for the weekend.
The second has to do with stem cells. In this scenario, advances in stem cell research allow scientists to regenerate virtually any tissue in the body, so that life expectancies are pushed well above 100 years. If you need a new heart or liver, you just grow one inside the chest cavity of a pig or cow; brain damage from Alzheimer's and stroke can be reversed. The only problem is that there are many subtle and some not-so-subtle aspects of human aging that the biotech industry hasn't quite figured out how to fix: people grow mentally rigid and increasingly fixed in their views as they age. Worst of all, they just refuse to get out of the way, not just of their children, but their grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
第一種情形與使用新藥有關(guān)。我們知道，人的個性具有很強(qiáng)的可塑性。精神藥物可以影響人的自尊和注意力這類特性。呆板的人可以變得活潑，內(nèi)向的人可以變得外向，你甚至可以隔三差五地變換自己的個性。
第二種情形與干細(xì)胞研究有關(guān)。干細(xì)胞研究的成果使科學(xué)家能夠再生幾乎所有的人體組織，從而把人的壽命延長到一百多歲。如果你需要一個新心臟或新肝臟，你只要在豬或牛的胸腔內(nèi)培育一個即可。老年癡呆病或中風(fēng)造成的腦損傷可以治愈。所存在的問題是，對人類因衰老而產(chǎn)生的許多微妙問題生物技術(shù)界還未能找到醫(yī)治的良方，例如隨著年齡的增長，人們的頭腦日益僵化，思想日益頑固。最糟糕的是，他們對子女不愿放手，甚至還要管教孫輩和重孫輩的生活。
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