Respected Mr. President, dear faculty and students,
Thank you for inviting me to talk about the emerging biological revolution.
In his book Brave New World, published in 1932, Aldous Huxley predicted a big biotechnological revolution about to take place: the hatching of people not in wombs but in test tubes; the drug which gave people instant happiness; the sensation which was simulated by implanted electrodes; and modification of behavior through the administration of various artificial hormones. With 70 years of separating us from the publication of this book, we can see that Huxley's technological predictions are surprisingly accurate. Many of the technologies that Huxley envisioned are already here or just over the horizon. But this revolution has only just begun. New breakthroughs in biomedical technology are announced daily; achievements such as the completion of the human genome project portend much more serious changes to come.
尊敬的校长先生、各位老师和同学：
感谢你们邀请我来谈一下正在发生的生物革命。
奥尔德斯·赫胥黎在其1932年出版的《奇妙新世界》一书中预言了一场即将发生的生物技术大革命。赫胥黎预示，人类可以在试管里而不是在子宫里孕育，药物可以即刻给人以快感，植入体内的电极可以给人以刺激，输入不同的人造荷尔蒙可以改变人的行为。此书问世70年后，我们看到赫胥黎对技术发展的预言是如此惊人的精确，所预言的许多技术已经诞生或即将诞生。但是这场革命还只是刚拉开了序幕。在生物医学技术领域里，每天都有新的突破。人类基因组项目的完成预示了将要出现更为重大的变革。
According to Huxley, the most significant threat posed by contemporary biotechnology is the possibility that it will alter human nature and thereby move us into a "posthuman" stage of history. This is important because human nature exists and defines us as a species with a stable continuity. It is what defines our most basic values. Medical technology offers us in many cases a devil's bargain: longer life, but with reduced mental capacity; freedom from depression, together with freedom from creativity or spirit. It will blur the line between what we achieve on our own and what we achieve because of the levels of various chemicals in our brains.
Consider the following three scenarios, all of which are distinct possibilities that may unfold over the next generation or two.
赫胥黎认为，当代生物技术对人类构成的最严重的威胁有可能改变人性，从而把我们带入“后人类”的历史阶段。赫胥黎的预警很重要，因为人性确实存在，人性界定着我们这个具有稳定延续性的物种，同时又界定着我们最基本的价值观。医学技术在许多方面为我们提供了一种魔鬼的交易：我们虽然延长了寿命，但是脑力却减退了。我们虽可免患忧郁症，但是也失去了创造力和灵气。我们无法区分哪些成就是我们自身努力的结果，哪些成果是由我们大脑里的化学物质造就的。
我们不妨考虑一下未来一两代人可能会遇到的三种情形。
The first has to do with new drugs. We know human personality is plastic. Psychotropic drugs can affect traits like self -esteem and the ability to concentrate. Stolid people can become vivacious; introspective ones extroverts; you can adopt one personality on Wednesday and another for the weekend.
The second has to do with stem cells. In this scenario, advances in stem cell research allow scientists to regenerate virtually any tissue in the body, so that life expectancies are pushed well above 100 years. If you need a new heart or liver, you just grow one inside the chest cavity of a pig or cow; brain damage from Alzheimer's and stroke can be reversed. The only problem is that there are many subtle and some not-so-subtle aspects of human aging that the biotech industry hasn't quite figured out how to fix: people grow mentally rigid and increasingly fixed in their views as they age. Worst of all, they just refuse to get out of the way, not just of their children, but their grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
第一种情形与使用新药有关。我们知道，人的个性具有很强的可塑性。精神药物可以影响人的自尊和注意力这类特性。呆板的人可以变得活泼，内向的人可以变得外向，你甚至可以隔三差五地变换自己的个性。
第二种情形与干细胞研究有关。干细胞研究的成果使科学家能够再生几乎所有的人体组织，从而把人的寿命延长到一百多岁。如果你需要一个新心脏或新肝脏，你只要在猪或牛的胸腔内培育一个即可。老年痴呆病或中风造成的脑损伤可以治愈。所存在的问题是，对人类因衰老而产生的许多微妙问题生物技术界还未能找到医治的良方，例如随着年龄的增长，人们的头脑日益僵化，思想日益顽固。最糟糕的是，他们对子女不愿放手，甚至还要管教孙辈和重孙辈的生活。
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