Philosophical Reflection On Gene Editing Technology

Gene-editing technology has only a short history of 60 to 70 years,from germination in the 1950 s to flourishing in the first decade of the 21 st century.However,it is a significant breakthrough in biotechnology,which can accomplish the technical goal of changing biological traits or even creating new species by deleting,enhancing,replacing,or modifying target genes.Gene-editing technology has been applied in livestock and poultry breeding,agricultural planting,and other fields to achieve promising results.Also,it brings new solutions for human genetic screening and gene therapy,and its future development is unstoppable.With the development of gene editing technology,the interaction with society will become more frequent,and the relationship between human and technology is more inseparable.Real problems arise one after another,which are deeply controversial.Therefore,it is necessary to guide development of technology to achieve the goal of “serving people”with technology.Marx and Engels attached great importance to technology.They valued technology as“the essential power of human beings” and “the locomotive driving the development of history.” Still,at the same time,they also pointed out that technology had risks.The alienation of technology leads to the loss of freedom and value of human being,which reminds us that we need to have “the ability to avoid the risks.” They scientifically foresaw the possible signs in the process of technology and social development,and made conjectures and hints on technology-related issues.As for Marxism,using the basic stand and method of Marxism to analyze that how high-tech such as gene editing technology can realize the positive interaction with human beings and realized the free and comprehensive development of technology serving human.Based on this,this study uses Marx’s idea of the relationship between human beings and technology to analyze the contradictions and conflicts in reality,carry out a theoretical dialogue with Marx,and explore countermeasures to prevent the development of gene-editing technology from falling into a developmental dilemma.This paper is divided into four chapters: Chapter 1 provides an overview of gene editing technology and Marx’s relationship between human beings and technology,including the background,significance,methodology,current situation,innovation points and key concepts of the study.The second chapter traces the development of three generations of gene editing technology and analyzes the human development issues raised by the technology,the typical cases of controversies related to national security and social moral crisis,and the human factor,which is the focus of the controversy,so as to provoke thoughts on how to treat gene editing technology.In the third chapter,we enter a new research perspective,"Marx’s idea of the relationship between human and technology",and start from the theory of two-way construction between human and technology,and explore the reasons why technology is caught in the process of constructing with human in a deeper way,mainly the process of technologizing human,technology becoming a target and the uncertain risk of technology itself,and try to make targeted suggestions under the obvious trend of technological domination.conditions to make targeted recommendations.Chapter 4,based on Marx’s ideas related to the relationship between human and technology,is guided by the main principles of coping with the risks of gene editing technology,giving play to subjective initiative,attaching importance to the human factor,facing up to technological risks,and putting forward specific suggestions that the development of gene editing technology should adhere to value orientation,regulate technological development and clarify technological responsibility from the levels of three subjects: technicians,managers and the public.The aim is to realize the benign development of gene editing technology and realize the benign interaction between technology and human’s all-round development,and make technology serve human society with more "happiness" and "satisfaction".