麻豆传媒

ON 4 February 1923, the 31-year-old biochemist J. B. S. Haldane read an essay on science and the future to members of the Heretics Club at Cambridge University. A year later it was published as the book Daedalus, or Science and the Future. On the surface, Daedalus appeared a typically shocking concoction from the science-gone-mad brand of futurology, and it caused a storm of controversy.

Using the device of a student essay written from the perspective of the year 2073, Haldane provided a chilling vision of a future in which human lives are overwhelmed by advances in the biological sciences. A world in which ectogenesis 鈥� the artificial development and 鈥渂irth鈥� of human embryos outside the womb 鈥� is the norm, 鈥渁nd less than 30 per cent of children are 鈥� born of woman鈥�, a world of ectogenetic parents selected to improve the quality of the gene pool, advancing each generation in any desired respect 鈥渇rom the increased output of first-class music to 鈥� decreased convictions for theft鈥�. Daedalus was one of the (unattributed) inspirations for Aldous Huxley鈥檚 dark novel Brave New World.

It would be easy to dismiss Haldane鈥檚 essay as the ramblings of an ideologue, to be compared with more recent fantasies from the pens of scientists who see futures twisted to fit their own blinkered and rather inhumane outlook. But Haldane did not lack humanity. As the contributors to Haldane鈥檚 Daedalus Revisited make clear, Haldane could foresee the evil consequences of implementing scientific advances without adapting our moral systems accordingly. He noted that scientific advance is full of promise only if 鈥渕ankind can adjust its morality to its powers鈥�.

Many of Haldane鈥檚 predictions have become reality, and our systems of morality have been challenged as a result. As a society, we collectively accept in vitro fertilisation and 鈥渢est-tube babies鈥�, but we find it difficult to accept the idea of babies born from the eggs of aborted fetuses (remember the 鈥測uk factor鈥�?). There can be little doubt that, chilling or not, we are living with at least some aspects of Haldane鈥檚 vision.

In Daedalus Revisited, Haldane鈥檚 predictions of 1923 are reviewed in detail, and compared and contrasted with modern developments in genetics and medical science. Contributions range from personal recollections of Haldane and his work to essays on the relationship berween science and society.

Few of the more controversial speculations by scientists on science and the future are worth revisiting but Haldane鈥檚 Daedalus is an exception. Daedalus Revisited is a lively and pertinent contribution to the current debate.