NEGATIVE - CRITIQUE OF TECHNOLOGY 169

CRITIQUE OF TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCES PROVIDES THE ALTERNATIVE

WE NEED A SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNOLOGICAL CODE OF ETHICS WHICH PREVENTS DANGEROUS NEW DISCOVERIES

Tony Snow, The Detroit News, March 24, 2000, SECTION: Opinion Page; Pg. 15 TITLE: It's time to confront high-tech worries // acs-VT2001

Sun's inquisitive cofounder argues we should back away from the precipice. He wants scientists to agree upon a code of ethics that forbids exploring "dangerous" ideas, and he wants the government to enforce the moratorium.

Joy acknowledges the social costs of such a move: "(It) will require a verification regime similar to that for biological weapons, but on an unprecedented scale. This, inevitably, will raise tensions between our individual privacy and desire for proprietary information, and the need for verification to protect us all. We will undoubtedly encounter strong resistance to this loss of privacy and freedom of action."

In other words, his cure for potentially unlimited technology is effectively unlimited government. It may surprise Joy, but he has dusted off centuries-old reasoning. He assumes for starters that commercial avarice will drown out society's predilection toward prudent self-preservation and that we lack the spark of divinity that would distinguish us forever from automatons.