The genome project is a multimillion pound investment. The screening done for things like cystic fibrosis is thought to be connected to the fact that it is cheaper to abort such children than to maintain them. This is the atmosphere in which what little debate there is takes place. Applied science gives us tomatoes in February, vitamin pills and tampons. Scientific endeavour is often presented to us as the apogee of the search for knowledge, yet the science we have often seems more like the expression of a wish to become invulnerable and safe and to have certainty, and appears to have little to do with true knowing.
Human beings can acknowledge the truth of that in many different ways.
Or is it what the individual has discovered for himself by patient application of the trusting intelligence. Surely we can only begin with the sense world, not make it the object of knowledge. Scientists say that they will not be influenced by anything subjective. They will look at the objective world 'out there' and draw their conclusions unaffected by feelings or subjectivity. This in itself sounds very commendable and a fine antidote to superstition and sentimentality.