The merger of biology with microelectronics has brought innovations to the practice of medicine that could only be dreamed about a few years ago. As genetic research firms feud over who owns the results of their work and biotech companies suddenly attract a flurry of investors, actual and predicted medical advances raise ethical, legal and social implications that strike at the very heart of our understanding of human existence. To help readers understand more about the implications of technological advances, The Institute recently spoke with IEEE members Alvin Wald, Joseph R. Herkert and John H. Fielder. Wald is the editor of IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Magazine . Herkert is professor of multidisciplinary studies at North Carolina State University, Raleigh, N.C., USA, and chair of the editorial board of IEEE Technology and Society Magazine .
People are concerned, they are afraid.
Advances in genetics, particularly achievements such as cloning, raise a range of issues. Bill Joy, chief scientist at Sun Microsystems, warned in an essay in Wired Magazine that the new technologies might unleash a nightmare of world destruction through accident or bio-terrorism. That question is one that many engineers do not ask themselves, say Herkert and Wald. In any scientific organization, there are certainly responsible people. But also they are being driven by pressure to promote their own and their colleagues' research.