Playing God: Talking About Ethics in Medicine and Technology

Number four in the Talking About series created problems for us in trying to find the right subtitle. The Playing God bit was easy, but trying to summarise the area of interest in just a very few words was tricky. The ‘ethics in medicine’ part is straightforward enough – looking at issues relating to the beginning and end of life in particular. But ‘technology’ could mean anything from the composition of pencil leads through to nano technology. The area we’re focusing on is really to do with transhumanism (the technological development of human beings) and artificial intelligence – questions relating to the nature of humanity, in other words.

Anyway, here’s the blurb and contents list:

As advances in technology push back the boundaries of the possible, are we losing sight of the question of whether it is right to do everything that science makes possible? From (premature) birth to (endlessly delayed) death, more and more decisions have to be made. How can Christians find a way through the moral minefield that new technology presents, and how can we talk about these things in a way that helps, rather than browbeats, our friends? Playing God: Talking About Ethics in Medicine and Technology begins to help readers think about these questions by engaging with recent films, books and television programmes.

Contents

Introduction to the Talking About series by Tony Watkins

Introduction by Nick Pollard

Rethinking Life and Death – (read this sample chapter)
by Nick Pollard

I Give You Dominion: A Biblical Perspective on Ethics in Medicine and Technology
by Dr Trevor Stammers

Killing Me Softly – Vera Drake and Million Dollar Baby
by Tony Watkins

Paddling in the Gene Pool – Margaret Atwood’s Oryx and Crake
by Caroline Puntis

Built Free – I, Robot
by Peter S. Williams

Docs on the Box – TV medical dramas
by Dr Rebecca Lewis

My Sister’s Keeper (Jodi Picoult) – Study Guide
by Louise Crook

The Island – Study Guide
by Tony Watkins

Life after God? The Ethical Teaching of Peter Singer
by Dr Peter May

Background to the quotes

For further reading

These posts may be related:

1. Sex and the Cynics: Talking About the Search for Love The Salvation Army published a very positive review which you can read on their website. Here’s the blurb and contents of the first book in the Talking About series....
2. Truth Wars: Talking About Tolerance The second book (technically it’s number 2, but it was published at the same time as Sex and the Cynics) is on one of the hottest issues in our...
3. Spooked: Talking About the Supernatural Books 3 and 4 in the Talking About series were published in early May this year. I was satisfied with the first two, but very pleased with how these...
4. Doctor Who I co-wrote Back in Time: A Thinking Fan’s Guide to Doctor Who with Steve Couch and Peter Williams, which was published in November 2005. It mainly relates to the...
5. Talking About . . . Darwin As the world marks the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin’s birth, his influence on the world is as enormous as ever. Whatever you think of his ideas, there’s no doubt...