Cops shouldn't be in charge of making the laws, doctors shouldn't decide society's attitudes and ethics about life and death, and scientists shouldn't be the ones to make the ethical decisions demanded by the profoundly powerful tools they invent.
But the faceless thing that hovers behind the bright screen of the television wants us to think that cops should make the laws, and doctors should determine whether people live or die, and scientists should be allowed to do whatever they want with their unproven tools and methods.
All three of these disciplines are important and necessary, and all three of them need strong ethical guidance from outside their areas.
The best of them recognize this; the worst have the arrogance of familiarity - who knows the criminal better than the cop, who knows better than the doctor what people's attitudes toward death should be, and who knows better than the scientist whether we should toy with the heart of life?
But the faceless thing that hovers behind the bright screen of the television wants us to think that cops should make the laws, and doctors should determine whether people live or die, and scientists should be allowed to do whatever they want with their unproven tools and methods.
All three of these disciplines are important and necessary, and all three of them need strong ethical guidance from outside their areas.
The best of them recognize this; the worst have the arrogance of familiarity - who knows the criminal better than the cop, who knows better than the doctor what people's attitudes toward death should be, and who knows better than the scientist whether we should toy with the heart of life?
