Sárospataki Füzetek 14. (2010)

2010 / 1. szám - TANULMÁNYOK - Rusthoven, James J.: Mit jelent embernek lenni a technika korában? Református keresztyén megközelítés.

Rusthoven, James J.

A REFORMED CHRISTIAN

Perspective on What it Means

to Be human in

Our Technological AGE'

Introduction

Objectives

T

hank you very much for the opportunity to share with you some of my work and concerns as a Reformed Christian in the area of biomedical ethics. My objective today is three fold: 1) to introduce you to some of the new procreative and medical technologies that will touch many of us individually and as faith communities, 2) to provide a brief overview of the importance of understanding what it is to be a human person in reflecting on the ethical implications of these technologies, and 3) to present an ethical framework based on a biblical concept of covenant that will help us to confront these ethical issues.

The Rapid Rate of Change and Diversity ofBiotechnical Development

We live in an age in which new technologies are being developed faster than the average person can comprehend. The rate of growth in scientific knowledge and complexity makes it increasingly difficult to understand the implications of new technologies. Moore’s Law exemplifies this reality. In 1965, Gordon Moore, co-founder of the computer processor company Intel, predicted that every two years, the number of active elements in a computer would double. That law has held true for over thirty years and we don’t know when it will begin to plateau.1 2 We are now in an era of nanotechnologies in which machines can be made that are invisible to the naked eye and even many microscopes. Some of these machines can actually replicate themselves. I treat some of my cancer patients with a product of nanotechnology. Molecules of a very effective but toxic chemotherapy drug are packaged in a crystalline sphere of albumin. This allows the drug to be delivered to the cancer cell without adversely affecting other organs on the way. Because albumin is a normal protein in our blood, it is readily biodegradable and thus

1 Presented in part at the Reformed Academy and Theological Seminary in Sárospatak, Hungary on November 13, 2009.

2 Moore, P. (2008) Enhandng Me: The Hope and the Hype of Human Enhancement (Chichester,

UK: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.).

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