The Ascendance of Science and Technology
Edward Rothstein:
Edith has asked me to chair this session, "The Ascen–
dance of Science and Technology." Traditionally, in gatherings of intel–
lectuals and discussions about culture, science tends to be
omitted-unless the purpose is a discussion of why science is omitted.
So it's unusual that
Partisan Review
has scheduled a session devoted
specifically to science and technology without any attempt to treat it as
if it's an alien visitation . But that is as it should be .
It
now is inappro–
priate to think of science or technology as something different from any
other subject intellectuals turn their minds to. The effects of science on
our lives have been profound and will become even more so. The exca–
vation of the human genome, advances in computing power, early ven–
tures into creating artificial life and intelligence, and the possibilities of
disruptive innovations in unexpected areas of research-all have an
impact on how we think about what it means to be distinctively human,
how we think about the just organization of societies, and how we
debate current policies on everything from cloning research to missile
defense systems . So, I'm essentially offering an apology for the fact that
there is no apology.
Our three lecturers are all distinguished figures. The order of speak–
ing will be as listed in the program . To my right, Ray Kurzwei l, inven–
tor, entrepreneur, recipient of the National Medal of Technology, and
author of the nationa l bestseller
The Age of Spiritual Machines.
To my
left, Gerald Weissmann, professor of medicine, Director of the Biotech–
nology Studies Center at New York University School of Medicine. His
new book of essays is
The Year of the Genome.
On my far left, James
Co ll ins, University Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Codirector
of the Center of BioDynamics at Boston University and a cofounder of
Sensory Technology, Inc. and Cellicon Technologies, Inc.
Ray Kurzweil:
Thanks for inviting me . I've enjoyed participating in
Edith's conferences before. I'd like to share with you some thoughts I've
been developing for a few decades about how technology is evolving.
This emerged from my own interest as an inventor. I quickly realized
that my inventions had to make sense when I finished the project, not
when I began it, and that the world was invariably a different place
