Consumer's Guide to a Brave New World

by Wesley J. Smith

What is embryonic stem cell research? Why is it so controversial? What is its relationship to human cloning? Events are moving so fast--and biotechnology seems so complicated--that many of us don't have an informed opinion about issues that are remaking the human future before our very eyes.

Now Wesley J. Smith provides us with a guide to the new world that is no longer a figment of our imagination but right around the corner. This highly readable and carefully researched book reports on the gargantuan "big biotech" industry and its supporters in science and in the universities. Smith reveals how this lobby works and how the ideology of "scientism," mixed with the lure of riches, threatens to dismantle ethical norms and compromise the uniqueness and importance of all human life.

Genres: Nonfiction

Audio CD

First published November 8, 2004

Reviews

[Lindu Pindu]

A good primer regarding the ethics of cloning and the use of ESC (embryo stem cells) as opposed to ASCs (adult stem cells), why cloning would be done in the first place, and where we're headed if it becomes legal everywhere ("mixing in a hawk's DNA to improve eyesight" being the least of our worries, egg-harvesting farms in poor countries one of the major concerns).

I appreciated the first 90 pages or so of the book, the writing is very engaging and the science explained clearly and thoughtfully. Afterwards it gets a bit tedious. So. Smith does a good job of exposing how biotech is manipulating terminology to make headway in legalizing cloning. This takes a great deal of thought, as it means defining life itself (in this particular case, where life begins for an embryo), and what can be expected from most biologists, who are just as fanatical as any religious fundamentalist about experimenting on what they see as progress. Smith also looks at the psychology of would-be parents of cloned children, concluding that "it's striking how uniformly their desire to clone is based on a "me" mindset" - no surprises there.

Smith has a conservative bent, and is obviously pro-life. However his arguments about banning the practice of cloning for child production will weigh heavily on anyone's mind.

[Sara Christians]

What a fascinating book - I particularly enjoyed the discussion on scientism and the "new eugenics". Almost 20 years later, these are still major issues with ardent supporters on either side. Even now, after all that had been promised in the early 2000s, biotech has not accomplished what it set out to do, and has in fact created more cause for concern and moral dilemmas (CRISPR, human-monkey hybrid embryos, etc).