Nature has, in
many ways, laid the foundation for what human beings aspire to create through
science. While all of our current technologies are based on “top-down”
fabrication methods in which matter is shaped and molded into the desired form[1], nature does not work in this way.
Nature operates
based on a “bottom-up” workflow that allows, for example, a human embryo’s
cells to independently govern themselves, working in parallel to develop what
will become a sentient, autonomous and independent human organism. That
organism, too, is comprised of trillions of individual cells that are guided by
this constructive principal towards sustaining themselves. As Eric Drexler
notes:
"Nature
shows that molecules can serve as machines because living things work by means
of such machinery. Enzymes are molecular machines that make, break, and
rearrange the bonds holding other molecules together. Muscles are driven by
molecular machines that haul fibers past one another. DNA serves as a
data-storage system, transmitting digital instructions to molecular machines,
the ribosomes, that manufacture protein molecules. And these protein molecules,
in turn, make up most of the molecular machinery just described." (Drexler
182)
This natural
principle forms the bedrock of our proof-of-concept for nanotechnology, which
is based fundamentally on natural processes. For scientists worldwide,
nanotechnology represents the next step in fabrication methods, drug delivery
systems and electronics.
In MichaelCrichton’s Prey, nanotechnology is
used to convey a sense of horror through the proliferation and evolution of a
sentient swarm that threatens humanity through a “grey-goo” scenario. We arrive
at this ethical dissonance through the introduction of artificial intelligence:
if a self-replicating swarm of self-aware nano-sized robots were to go loose on
the world, would humanity be in danger?
The short
answer to this question, as far as actual, real-life nanotechnology is
concerned, is no. Michael Crichton applies some heavy flavoring to the poorly
understood field of nano-robotics in order to arrive at a convenient medium for
a good horror story.
In scientific
parlance, he is skewing the facts. The ethical dilemma that he represents,
however, is clear: do human beings have the right to create our own life forms
by mimicking nature? Is this a dangerous idea?
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This question,
which forms the moral backbone of the book, is represented in a number of ways,
including the swarm’s affect on Julia, who is originally suspected of
infidelity by the book’s protagonist, Jack Forman. The fact that she later
transmits a symbiotic version of the swarm to others through a kiss is a
telling symbol.
The swarm is
previously shown to make her act like an abusive mother, effectively subverting
the two most important family relationships that form the foundation of
successful human co-existence.
The fact that
the swarm did this seems to indicate that Crichton believes that our attempts
to create artificially intelligent life will undermine all of our most
deep-seated and necessary human characteristics.
Of course,
human beings have been recreating what we see in nature since we began drawing
on cave walls tens of thousands of years ago. From an ethical point of view,
there should be little difference between creating an artificially intelligent
being and a sentient, biological being through birth.
If we take for
granted that sentience is equal and that these two things are both alive, then
there is very little reason to be afraid of the ethical consequences of this
train of thought.
The chances of
creating a “grey-goo” super plague are vastly exaggerated by Crichton’s need to
expose the supposed terrible dark side of technological advance- something that
makes a good story but doesn’t always hold up to rigorous examination.
If we examine,
for example, the ethical dangers represented by biotechnology in the last
century, we see a great degree of ethical restraint and control exerted by the
men and women involved.
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Imbuing the
scientific community with a sense of trust resulted from peer-review processes
of the academic establishments produces numerous “regulators” who can identify the improper conduct that
the governmental authorities are unlikely to notice and respond to it (Reynolds
203), among other checks and balances.
While it is certain that nanotechnology will
be used for military purposes by governments worldwide, and so, too, will
artificial intelligence eventually become a mainstay of modern society, the
ethical dilemma around which Prey is
based seems largely designed to scare people away from these technologies. This
is a tactic that, while decidedly backwards in scope, cannot be matched by the
human impetus for scientific progress.
[1] Not unlike Michelangelo’s famous remark that he does not create a
sculpture from a block of marble, but in fact releases the sculpture that is already
present in the marble by chipping away the unnecessary parts.
