OUR POSTHUMAN FUTURE
FRANCIS FUKUYAMA
BERNARD L. SCHWARTZ PROFESSOR OF INTERNATIONAL
POLITICAL ECONOMY
THE PAUL H. NITZE SCHOOL OF ADVANCED INTERNATIONAL
STUDIES
JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
1619 MASSACHUSETTS AVE. NW
ROOM 732 WASHINGTON, DC 20036
REVIEWED BY MIKE LEPORE
FOR CRIMSONBIRD. COM
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03742364
In Our Posthuman Future Francis Fukuyama expresses apprehension
that biotechnology might change human nature
for the worst, he surveys the history of
ethical philosophy in search of the "Factor
X" which makes us human, and he calls
for international legal regulations to draw
the lines between acceptable and unacceptable
uses of biotechnology.
Fukuyama supports the "natural rights"
argument [see, for example, pages 13, 109,
129] that has been associated with political
philosophers as diverse as Aristotle and
Thomas Jefferson. In this view, individual
rights and moral behavior can only be based
on the existence of a constant and identifiable
"human nature" and our willingness
to act in accordance with it.
Despite the misuse of heredity arguments
by racists [20] there is genuine evidence
that hereditary universals exist. For example,
there is "something about adolescent
males" [33] that causes them to be aggressive
about taking risks, a tendency found on continents
around the world. Here the author cites [33-34]
the work of anthropologist Richard Wrangham,
author of the 1996 book Demonic Males : Apes
and the Origins of Human Violence . Such
universals must have a genetic origin. We
now know there are "molecular pathways
between genes and aggression," and biologists
have even been able to produce violent mice
by tinkering with the genes that control
their enzymes. [34] They have also been able
to produce mice with superior memories through
genetic modification. [24] Fukuyama summarizes
the recent investigations into whether genes
determine intelligence, sex orientation,
and predisposition to commit crimes [25-35].
But the "neurotransmitter revolution"
[42] has led to applications related to social
regimentation. Ritalin has become "a
pill for socially controlling children,"
[52] as if to bypass for our own convenience
the fact that evolution did not design children
to sit in school and be quiet. The author
finds this an example of what Alexis de Tocqueville
(1805-1859) called "tyranny of the majority."
[53]
Thus the first two of what Fukuyama calls
"some plausible pathways to the future"
[16] are (1) our discovery of the influence
of genetics and brain structure on human
behavior, and (2) manipulation of emotions
and behavior through pharmacology.
"The third pathway by which contemporary
biotechnology will affect politics is the
prolongation of life." [57] Demographics
will be affected by a combination of increases
in life expectancy and increases in fertility
rates, factors which will add to any local
effects of immigration [57-63]. The author
speculates about the effects on "age-graded
hierarchies," that is, administrative
roles in which influential positions are
correlated with age, such as seniority, tenure
and review committees. [64-66] He also fears
that life will be prolonged without correspondingly
reducing the dependency of the elderly on
other people's support [67-69].
The fourth "pathway" to the future
will be genetic engineering, which will introduce
among some the desire for "designer
babies," [76] bringing a number of technical
and ethical problems [77-78].
[See also our review of the 2001 book, The
Impact of the Gene : From Mendel's Peas to
Designer Babies , by Colin Tudge.]
Table of Contents Our Posthuman Future :
Consequences of the Biotechnology Revolution
, by Francis Fukuyama Preface xi
Part I : Pathways to the Future
1. A Tale of Two Dystopias 3
2. Sciences of the Brain 18
3. Neuropharmacology and the Control of Behavior
41
4. The Prolongation of Life 57
5. Genetic Engineering 72
6. Why We Should Worry 84
Part II : Being Human
7. Human Rights 105
8. Human Nature 129
9. Human Dignity 148
Part III : What To Do
10. The Political Control of Bioyrchnology
181
11. How Biotechnology is Regulated Today
195
12. Policies for the Future 203
Notes 219 Bibliography 243
In the chapter entitled "Why We Should
Worry," Fukuyama considers the association
between eugenics and totalitarian states
[84-88]. Next he addresses religious considerations
[88-91]. Finally he inspects "utilitarian
concerns" -- his alternative name for
"economic considerations." The
market economic system has frequently been
unable to attend to "negative externalities"
[91-93]. In producing designer babies, we
will face the hazard that biotechnology will
be used to enforce Politically Correct ways
of feeling and thinking [93]. There will
also be a flood of "zero sum" modifications,
for example, an offspring designed to be
faster runner will have no advantage in a
race against others who were also designed
to be faster runners. [97]
The author therefore prefers "deference
to nature" [97] and leaving human nature
alone. If we fail to leave our nature alone,
we may engineer out of ourselves "some
essential quality that has always underpinned
our sense of who we are." [101] "Worse
yet, we might make this change without recognizing
that we had lost something of great value."
[101]
After this tour of the four conceivable pathways
to the future, Fukuyama returns in Chapter
7 to the topic with which he began the book,
the relationship between human rights and
human nature.
The empiricist David Hume (1711-1776) argued
that nature cannot be a guide to moral behavior
because there is no way to derive an "ought"
from an "is." Most philosophers
would say that to attempt to use nature as
a guide to what is right would be to commit
"the naturalistic fallacy" [112-117].
Another empiricist, Immanuel Kant
(1724-1804) wished to replace the ontological
theory of morality (based on a view of intrinsic
human nature) with a deontological theory
(without assumptions about human nature).
Kant concluded that morality can be defined
in terms of any rational agents capable of
making choices, whether or not they are human,
as long as they submit to reason [119-120].
Fukuyama then looks at the effort of contemporary
Kantian philosopher John Rawls to define
morality in deontological terms by relating
it to "reciprocity"
-- the general characteristic among societies
that individuals treat others reciprocally
with the respectful consideration that has
been shown in the treatment of themselves
[121].
Fukuyama then delves more deeply into the
concept of human nature. While some human
characteristics are normally distributed,
such as height or test scores [130-132],
there are others which are not, such as blood
types, which appear in discrete types with
nothing in between them [134-135]. Several
recent works, including Noam Chomsky's discovery
of "deep structures" of all human
languages [140] and Rawl's point that reciprocality
is universal [142] have made it implausible
for modern thinkers to defend the thesis
of John Locke (1632-1704) that a human being
starts out in life as a tabula rasa (blank
slate) upon which any characteristics can
be written [140-143].
Fukuyama therefore searches for that Factor
X which makes us human, without which, he
believes, human dignity can't have a foundation
[149]. He notes that "in the political
realm we are required to respect people equally
on the basis of their possession of Factor
X." [152]
The author is not satisfied with either the
religious answer that all souls are equal
before God [150], nor with Kant's answer
that right is based on our capacity to make
rational choices [151], nor with the Darwinian
position "that species do not have essences"
as a species is merely a snapshot at moment
between what came before and what will come
afterwards [152]. The author criticizes [152-154]
the opinion of genetic scientist Lee M. Silver,
author of Remaking Eden : How Genetic Engineering
and Cloning Will Transform the American Family
, that there is no "natural order"
that genetic engineering might destroy. Silver
has written, "Why not control what has
been left to chance in the past?" [153]
Fukuyama also considers the 1996 statement
by Pope John Paul II that humans evolved
from nonhuman animals but an "ontological
leap" occurred to make us into special
souls [161]. He weighs the fact that evolution
is a nonlinear system which exhibits chaos
due to its sensitivity to initial conditions
[162-163]. He discusses the contrast between
the belief of Daniel Dennett, the author
of Consciousness Explained , that consciousness
is a sequence of operations as in a computer,
and the opinion of John R. Searle, the author
of The Mystery of Consciousness and several
other books , that consciousness is a biological
property that a computer could not duplicate
[166-171].
Fukuyama concludes, "Factor X cannot
be reduced to the possession of moral choice,
or reason, or language, or sociability, or
sentience, or emotions, or consciousness,
or any other quality that has been put forth
as a ground for human dignity. It is all
these qualities coming together in a human
whole that make up factor X." [171]
The author returns to the issue of political
consequences. If we have the power, some
of us will be tempted to judge what are good
and bad emotions [172]. We cannot find consolation
in the fact that designer babies are a long
way off, because we have already begun to
move in the wrong direction by using pharmacology
to control how people think [173]. We already
have a precedent for a "hierarchy is
the assignment of political rights"
in the facts that children are recognized
as not yet prepared to vote, and people convicted
of felonies have lost their right to vote
[175]. We cannot trust biotech businesses
to regulate themselves because they are ruled
by their own financial interests [184, 204].
"Science by itself cannot establish
the ends to which it is put." [185]
"It is only 'theology, philosophy or
politics' that can establish the ends of
science and the technology that science produces,
and pronounce on whether those ends are good
or bad." [185] Society won't leave it
up to parents to determine whether they want
designer babies, as we already have several
precedents for limiting the power of parents
(they cannot neglect their children, they
must send them to school, etc.) The solution
has to be found in political democracy [186]
and it will only work if it is international
[188].
Fukuyama discards arguments that this international
regulation of biotechnology is unobtainable.
First of all, we continue to fight crime,
even if this effort has imperfect results,
demonstrating that we recognize that inability
to be entirely successful doesn't mean that
we shouldn't try [189]. Furthermore, biotechnology
would be easier to regulate than nuclear
weapons, since the technology being found
in the wrong hands wouldn't produce immediate
catastrophic results [192]. We don't have
to start with global agreement, since we
can begin at a national level and then engage
in international diplomacy [193-194]. We
must permit genetic engineering for therapeutic
reasons, while adopting a "broad-brush
ban" on human cloning and the production
of designer babies [208]. We must find an
answer to Lee Silver's objection that its
impossible to find a boundary between "therapy"
and "enhancement." [209] We may
have to establish new legal institutions,
since such present agencies as the FDA and
the NIH don't have it within their mandates
to issue the type of regulations needed [212-213].
Furthermore, the regulations must apply to
all biotechnology research, not only to that
which receives federal funding [214-215].
Fukuyama closes with a summary of the points
that numerous governments and many political
philosophers base themselves on the belief
in "natural rights", and he reminds
us that human nature is not "infinitely
malleable." [218]
Our Posthuman Future is a stimulating book
throughout, and not a single phrase is uninformative.
I find fault, however, with the author's
reliance on the "natural rights"
axiom, since such "natural rights,"
assuming they exist, are nevertheless undiscoverable,
and we have only fallible opinions about
what they might consist of. Even if morality
objectively exists, that doesn't imply that
it's knowable. Fukuyama has also seemed to
bypass Lee Silver's important question, "Why
not control what has been left to chance
in the past?" [153] Perhaps a more reasonable
answer would be that we know too little about
our human-nature-determining genes to even
consider redesigning them, and a moratorium
for several more centuries would be feasible,
while a permanent ban is much harder to defend
or conceive.
Reviewed by Mike Lepore for crimsonbird.
com
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Our Posthuman Future : Consequences of the
Biotechnology Revolution by Francis Fukuyama
ISBN 0-374-23643-7 / ISBN
0374236437 Book description from the publisher's
press release
In 1989, Francis Fukuyama made his now-famous
pronouncement that because the major alternatives
to liberal democracy had exhausted themselves,
history as we knew it had reached its end.
Ten years later, he revised his argument:
we hadn't reached the end of history, he
wrote, because we hadn't yet reached the
end of science. Arguing that the greatest
advances still to come will be in the life
sciences, Fukuyama now asks how the ability
to modify human behavior will affect liberal
democracy.
To reorient contemporary debate, Fukuyama
underlines man's changing understanding of
human nature through history: from Plato
and Aristotle's belief that man had "natural
ends" to the ideals of utopians and
dictators of the modern age who sought to
remake mankind for ideological ends: Fukuyama
persuasively argues that the ultimate prize
of the biotechnology revolution -- intervention
in the "germ line," the ability
to manipulate the DNA of all of one person's
descendants -- will have profound, and potentially
terrible, consequences for our political
order, even if undertaken by ordinary parents
seeking to "improve" their children.
In Our Posthuman Future , our greatest social
philosopher describes the potential effects
of our exploration on the foundation of liberal
democracy: the belief that human beings are
equal by nature.
About the Author
Francis Fukuyama is Bernard Schwartz Professor
of International Political Economy at the
Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International
Studies, Johns Hopkins University. In 2002,
he was appointed to the President's Council
on Bioethics. He is the author of The Great
Disruption : Human Nature and the Reconstitution
of Social Order , Trust : The Social Virtues
and the Creation of Prosperity , and The
End of History and The Last Man , among other
works. He lives in McLean, Virginia.
Reviews
"Our Posthuman Future is a profound
and important book that warns how today's
Ritalin for boisterous boys could be tomorrow's
'abolition' of human nature as we know it.
Tinkering with biology threatens to diminish
human dignity. Francis Fukuyama's answer
to the ethical dilemmas of our biotechnical
age is a morality grounded in the needs and
potentials of our species"
-- Frans de Waal, author of The Ape and the
Sushi Master
"One of the ways we learn about dramatic
social change ... is that Francis Fukuyama
show up to tell us it happening .... He asks
large questions; he generates coherent answers;
and he changes the agenda of public debate."
-- Alan Ehrenhalt, The Wall Street Journal
"Francis Fukuyama is an analyst who
does not, intellectually speaking, get out
of bed for anything less than the all-encompassing
grand sweep of history."
-- Anthony Gottlieb, The New York Times Book
Review
"Fukuyama is one of the few American
intellectuals ... capable of training a knowledge
of world history and a grasp of social theory
on topics of undeniable contemporary significance."
-- Michael Kazin, The Washington Post Book
World
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