Idées de progrès scientifique (synthèse en anglais)

I’m going to talk about the notion "Idea of progress". But first of all, I would like to give a definition of this notion.

The idea of progress consists in believing that the world can become better in terms of science, technology, and quality of life. However, sometimes progress causes more problems than it solves.

Is science always a progress?

First, cloning is the production of genetically identical organisms. From a medical point of view, it would be a great step forward for the human condition. This could be used to counter genetic diseases (having a source of genetically identical body parts for transplant patients in order to save their lives). This also would provide the opportunity for sterile couples to have babies. This shows that science's progress can correct nature’s mistakes and improve the human condition but there is also progress in new technologies.

In class, we saw the trailer of My sister’s keeper concerning this aspect of the notion. The life of Sara and Brian changes when they learn that their daughter Kate, aged 2, suffers from leukemia. On the advice of their doctor, they conceive another child, Anna, they hope that she is compatible with Kate so that she can help her for transplants. Sara decides to stop her job and do everything to save her daughter, neglecting suddenly her other daughter, Anna, and her son, Jesse. But at the age of 11, Anna hires a lawyer to sue her parents, in order to stop medical pro-cedures on her person.

In this film, moral and ethical problems are addressed. For example:

 Can we give birth to a child for the sole purpose of providing a stock of new organs to another person?

 Should we consider the will of the child to undergo invasive and very heavy operations for the recovery of organs (kidney, for example) and biological flu-ids (bone marrow, for example)?

Towards the end of the film, the question of euthanasia is implicitly raised: the desire of a young patient to "choose" her end, to die in peace and dignity.

Moreover, we saw another document entitled “Science babies”. It’s an excerpt from the novel Brave New World. In this text, the director of the laboratory explains how the scientists choose and sort out the different egg to pursue the fertilizing process. He compares the fertilizing process with mass production saying that in a few time, science will help create many identical twins and even more.

From an ethical point of view, cloning raises problems because it could become a re-al market and could devalue children, treating them as goods. There may also have serious genetic consequences: the early animals cloned had clinical problems derived from genetic effects. For example, Dolly, the first cloned mammal, was euthanized in February 2003 following early problems and breathing difficulties.

Some believe that this could happen in humans.

Moreover, many people fear that cloned people be considered as slaves or second-class citizens without civil rights, because they are only copies. I think this reasoning is absolutely ridiculous, because one person stays a human being regard-less of her genetics. For example, people

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