Department of Science and Technology Studies, Faculty of Science, University of Malaya, 50603, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Sci Eng Ethics. 2018 Feb;24(1):109-127. doi: 10.1007/s11948-017-9887-1. Epub 2017 Mar 9.
Advancements in science and technology have not only brought hope to humankind to produce disease-free offspring, but also offer possibilities to genetically enhance the next generation's traits and capacities. Human genetic enhancement, however, raises complex ethical questions, such as to what extent should it be allowed? It has been a great challenge for humankind to develop robust ethical guidelines for human genetic enhancement that address both public concerns and needs. We believe that research about public concerns is necessary prior to developing such guidelines, yet the issues have not been thoroughly investigated in many countries, including Malaysia. Since the novel often functions as a medium for the public to express their concerns, this paper explores ethical concerns about human genetic enhancement expressed in four Malay science fiction novels namely Klon, Leksikon Ledang, Transgenesis Bisikan Rimba and Transgenik Sifar. Religion has a strong influence on the worldview of the Malays therefore some concerns such as playing God are obviously religious. Association of the negative image of scientists as well as the private research companies with the research on human genetic enhancement reflects the authors' concerns about the main motivations for conducting such research and the extent to which such research will benefit society.
科学技术的进步不仅给人类带来了生育无病后代的希望，也为下一代的特征和能力的基因增强提供了可能性。然而，人类基因增强引发了复杂的伦理问题，例如应该在多大程度上允许进行这种增强。为人类基因增强制定强有力的伦理准则，既满足公众的关注和需求，又应对这些问题，这对人类来说是一个巨大的挑战。我们认为，在制定这些准则之前，有必要对公众关注的问题进行研究，但包括马来西亚在内的许多国家都没有对此进行深入调查。由于小说通常是公众表达关注的一种媒介，因此本文探讨了在四部马来科幻小说中表达的人类基因增强的伦理关注，这四部小说分别是《克隆》、《林邦词典》、《森林深处的基因转换》和《零号转基因》。宗教对马来人的世界观有着强大的影响，因此，有些担忧，如扮演上帝，显然是宗教性的。将科学家的负面形象以及私人研究公司与人类基因增强的研究联系起来，反映了作者对进行此类研究的主要动机以及此类研究将在多大程度上使社会受益的关注。
