Ethics: what can this one word mean and how can it have such an influence to society? To start, this word is defined by Webster’s Dictionary as “the discipline dealing with what is good and bad and with moral duty and obligation” (Webster's Dictionary). So how can this one word be present in an English class that is concerned about technology? Easily. The concept of technology has ethics written all over it. When a new technological advancement is in place, may people are excited, but with advancement comes consequences. Take the scientific advancement of cloning Dolly, the sheep. While many people were impressed with the concept that humans can create a living creature from genes, others were very concerned with the ethical portion of what this advancement could do to the future. This is looked upon as “playing God” in that we are making creatures from a couple of cells of another, which opens up way to many doors of possibilities. After all, Dolly had a shortened life from only living from 1997 to 2003. Moving on though, how does this relate to this English 246 class and our quest to analyze technology? Because of the problems that occur in technology, but the insistence to advance more and more, I want to present the extreme ethical problems that are presented in three of the pieces of art that we analyzed this semester: Frankenstein, The Island, and Camp Concentration.While science plays a big portion of Frankenstein, I would like to take the time to evaluate how Mary Shelley incorporated the theme of ethics into her storyline. There were two main ways in which the ethical portion of the story was a little out of whack and where it was evident that Mary Shelley wanted her audience to acknowledge the risks of technology. The first main concern was when Victor created the monster out of a dead body in the cemetery and the second being how Victor was so gung-ho over this creation when he was in the lab that he did not consider how to care for this poor creature and how he left it when he got scared for the rest of society to deal with. Starting off, the idea of Victor digging in a cemetery is disgusting. When someone is laid to rest, naturally the loved ones imagine the body at rest and in some better place than they were on earth… but what if that loved one was dug up and shocked with electricity for some sick scientist’s experiment. How disturbing of a thought would that be? Well that is what Victor had done to this poor human. His ethics were lost when Victor went digging in the grave for his experiment, dug up the body, transported it to the lab, hooked up electricity, and then shocked it to the point where it came alive. When comparing this to the definition of ethics, I would not consider victor’s actions to be a moral obligation to society. Instead, I think of it as a selfish attempt to further his success in the science world. Going off of this, the next unethical event that occurred in the story was when Victor got scared of the creation, and just left for the rest of society to deal with. How unethical is this in that he makes the creation but can not deal with it because he is a coward. What did Victor think would happen to this monster? He should have known that this monster would have to find some way to survive and he should have considered that if he was scared of the monster, then the other people would be too. Through this Mary Shelley presents the idea that if a scientist creates something, then they should be ready to deal with it. Not only that, but they need to consider the ethical aspect of this creation and if it could be perceived as ‘playing God’. By acting like God, they are breaking the ethical dimensions of being humans and it is unjust for them to proceed with their experiment. The big sign would be digging up a body, but hey, I guess some people are crazy. Mary Shelley did a great job of relaying the concept of unethical approaches of science through the way that she portrayed Victor Frankenstein in her story of science and heartbreak.
Not only does Shelley incorporate elements that go against ethical views, but the movie The Island, directed by Michael Bay, also deals with unethical aspects of science. The first element with this is that the creator of the island industry, Merrick, does not have any sense of what his is doing to the people/clones that he creates in his huge laboratory. I doubt that he expected the clones to really develop emotions, but when it would happen, he wanted to exterminate them and make a new clone. When Lincoln-Six-Echo found out about what happened when people were supposedly going to the island, he was disgusted which showed emotion. The worst thing to happen to Merrick’s experiment was that Lincoln-Six-Echo escaped from the industry and found the outside world where he found out what he was made for. The whole idea of creating something/someone in order to take parts from them, kill them, is unethical in all accounts of the word. How could one person think that they are so powerful that they can just dispose of another in order to make a lot of money. Even though these are clones, they have to understand that all science has consequences and that the abolishing of humans is not ethical in any way. Not only that, but Merrick had no problem in killing all of the clones that were in the process of being made. I tend to relate this to a pregnant mother. I am sorry if I will offend anyone by saying this, but I think that abortion is unethical. It is the killing of a human before they even have the right to decide if they want to live. It is abolishing the right of a creature to live and deciding it for them. Another concern that I had with the ethics of a character in this movie was with Tom Lincoln. I think that it is unethical on Tom’s place to trick the clone into an utter demise. He knew that this clone had feelings and emotions just like any other human, but Tom was more concerned with his ability to live that he ignored this and decided that he would turn in Lincoln-Six-Echo back to Merrick. It was not his duty or obligation to cause the undeniable demise of another living creature whether it was a clone or not. The movie The Island presented very important ethical dimensions of science in that if someone has the power to create something then they have to decide what it all entails before going through with it. From my point of view, Merrick did not understand that the clones would be real humans with real human needs besides food and activity. Because of his lack in understanding of what would happen to the clones that he created, his reactions (as well as Tom’s) were unethical.
Going along with the unethical science advancements, Camp Concentration is another book in which the ethics should have been more planned out before the scientists implanted the pills into the people of their camp. The justification behind this is that the people were in jail anyways, but they were not all permanent life sentences. For instance, Louis Sacchetti was supposed to only be in jail for five years for dodging the war when he awoken in a place called Camp Archimedes. This was where the people were drugged in order to have huge intelligences but the problem was that they would die within months of being drugged. This is one of the most unethical ideas that I could have thought of because the people did not all volunteer for this camp and they were tricked into being part of this experiment. It was a selfish experimental procedure in order for General Humphrey Haast to benefit with a war mechanism. In the end, Haast’s want turns into a desire for the trick to immortality. This is so unethical because Haast ruins many people’s lives in order to advance science, but the problem is that the patients are tricked into this experiment. If it were to be that the people who participated all knew of their participation and the effects that it would have on them, then it would be better, but because of the trickery, I find it disgusting. In fact, out of all of these examples, I find the problem in Camp Concentration to be the most unethical.
After looking at the ethical perspectives from science in Frankenstein, The Island, and Camp Concentration I honestly wish that the scientists would stop their creating and just settle with nature. Of course this is not possible, and writers notice this enough to incorporate it into their stories. I wish that people would notice the trouble that we had with Dolly and read these Sci-Fi books to see how the we are becoming monsters and creating unethical machines within ourselves. Its too bad that people don’t realize the consequences that science can have on a community. They are too concerned with one-upping the each other.
Pixie Dust 