Playing God refers to assuming powers of decision, intervention or control metaphorically reserved to God. Acts described as playing God may include, for example, deciding who should live or die in a situation where not everyone can be saved, the use and development of biotechnologies such as synthetic biology,[1] and in vitro fertilisation.[2] Usually the expression is used pejoratively and to criticize or argue against the supposedly God-like actions.[3][4]
The Playing God
Throughout history, many cultures have had stories and mythologies that depict figures that have attempted to deify themselves, whether intentional or unintentional. The famous myth of Prometheus in ancient Greece tells the tale of someone who stole from the Gods and gave to the people, and whilst he was punished for eternity, he was also hailed as a champion of the people. Apart from mythology, many contemporary thinkers, scientists, and books have argued for and against the case of playing God, and why it is necessary or unnecessary for the human race to take on the mantle.
In more modern history, there have been many scientific projects, which have been considered to be attempted acts of playing God. Biomedical projects such as the attempted creation of artificial sperm and the creation of artificial life itself have brought the sci-fi stories of the 1900s out of fantasy and closer to reality. Other projects scientists have attempted include cloning (Dolly the sheep), even bringing back other extinct species that were previously thought to have been lost to time and could possibly be reintroduced to the wild. The fairly recent discovery of DNA has led to scientists toying with the idea that perhaps human genetics could be edited and possibly improved, despite there being opposition regarding unknown and possible dire consequences.
Philip Ball has argued that "playing God" is a meaningless and dangerous cliché that has no basis in theology. He claims that it was adopted as a rhetorical weapon by bioethicist "theocons", owes its origin as a meme to the 1931 film version of Frankenstein, and has been used by journalists to refer to things they disagree with.[6] Alexandre Erler, in response to Ball, has argued that while the phrase is not meaningless, it is extremely vague and requires further clarification for it to be useful within the context of an argument.[7]
The most common form of "playing God" in the modern era is attributed to bioethics. Bioethics refers to ethical issues regarding biological science, medicine etc. IVF treatment, abortion, genetic editing, and artificial insemination are a few of the major topics regarding synthetic reproduction. Cloning was the centre of the playing God topic for decades and is still a taboo scientific subject due to this. Nicholas Hartsoeker in 1694 studied sperm under a microscope and the diagram he proposed for what sperm was, a homunculus in the head of the human sperm. A very little human was said to be observed, and this continued an Aristotelian thought that the sperm was in fact, a sacred little person.[8] Rabbis continued to use Hartsoeker's image centuries later attempting to prove that artificial interference with an embryo or birth was murder, destruction of life.[8] Western nations such as the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia have made many advances in fields such as IVF, however places like the Far East do not show nearly as much interest in the topic. Eastern philosophy has its own outlook on issues regarding "playing God", such as the Confucianism school of thought.[9] This provides another angle of analysis that can be offered towards this complicated matter.
Artificial intelligence has been a frequent topic of moral questioning in the 21st century. Many deem the human creation of another dimension where the being is sentient and possibly near identical to human intelligence to be an act of playing God.[11] Contrary to bioethics and geo-engineering, artificial intelligence does not physically intervene in nature and its processes. Since the invention of the Internet and complex computing systems and algorithms, artificial intelligence has exponentially improved and is now used in everyday technology. The term "artificial intelligence" contrasts that of natural intelligence, displayed by biological organisms. Major organisations around the world, even including the United Nations have commented regarding the relationship between artificial intelligence and the impact it may have on human lives in a negative way. UN Secretary-General António Guterres noted that AI drone strikes have the capability to possibly go rogue and take lives without human involvement. Other practices of AI can include many other matters, such as Deep Blue, the IBM super computer that is capable of beating grandmasters at chess.
There is a strong debate regarding morality and consequence for science and playing God. Gene editing is a big topic that has been the centre of argument for decades. Many religious figures believe the notion that life is the plan of God and not to be taken away or synthetically given by man, while some scientists argue that if humans are able to do so then God must have meant it to be.
The emergent new science of synthetic biology is challenging entrenched distinctions between, amongst others, life and non-life, the natural and the artificial, the evolved and the designed, and even the material and the informational. Whenever such culturally sanctioned boundaries are breached, researchers are inevitably accused of playing God or treading in Frankenstein's footsteps. Bioethicists, theologians and editors of scientific journals feel obliged to provide an authoritative answer to the ambiguous question of the 'meaning' of life, both as a scientific definition and as an explication with wider existential connotations. This article analyses the arguments mooted in the emerging societal debates on synthetic biology and the way its practitioners respond to criticism, mostly by assuming a defiant posture or professing humility. It explores the relationship between the 'playing God' theme and the Frankenstein motif and examines the doctrinal status of the 'playing God' argument. One particularly interesting finding is that liberal theologians generally deny the religious character of the 'playing God' argument-a response which fits in with the curious fact that this argument is used mainly by secular organizations. Synthetic biology, it is therefore maintained, does not offend so much the God of the Bible as a deified Nature. While syntheses of artificial life forms cause some vague uneasiness that life may lose its special meaning, most concerns turn out to be narrowly anthropocentric. As long as synthetic biology creates only new microbial life and does not directly affect human life, it will in all likelihood be considered acceptable.
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The phrase, playing God, appears to be one a theologian might use. But in contemporary parlance it has taken on secular significance. It refers to the powers that science, engineering, and technology confer on human beings to understand and to control the natural world.
The playing God metaphor has been used in both celebratory and critical contexts. In celebration, H. G. Wells's novel Men Like Gods (1923) describes an advanced human civilization in which people lead the life of demigods, very free, strongly individualized ... a practical communism." Indeed the communist movement sometimes described itself as realizing previously thwarted divinelike possibilities in human nature. Inventor R. Buckminster Fuller proclaimed the advent of No More Second-Hand God (1963) through science and technology. The psychologist Erich Fromm, in his book You Shall Be as Gods (1966), argued the need to assume responsibilities for many new powers that were once attributed to supernatural entities. And the alternative culture Whole Earth Catalog (1968) declared on its cover, "We are gods and might as well get used to it."
Among the followers of Ayn Rand, playing god has been declared a virtue. Science fiction writers sometimes describe themselves as playing god. And for Kevin Kelly (1999), nerd theology involves repeatedly playing god, as in a learning game.
More commonly, however, playing God has served as a metaphor for criticizing the human exercise of excessive scientific and technological powers. Early Romantic writers implicitly criticized human aspirations to play God insofar as they mourned the loss of a sense of the sacred in the wake of scientific and technological progress. In the contexts of both celebration and criticism, there are, nevertheless, three overlapping meanings that can be discerned.
The second meaning of playing God arises primarily within the field of medicine where doctors seem to have gained the power over life and death. In a medical emergency, the patient feels helpless, totally dependent upon the scientific training and personal skills of the attending physicians. Doctors, and the scientific training they received in medical school, stand between the patient and death. Similarly large-scale research programs dedicated to finding cures for cancer or HIV/AIDS provide society with hope in the face of helplessness. Here playing God takes on a redemptive or salvational component. The genre of jokes about doctors who think of themselves as gods reflects the wider anxiety over powerlessness plus human dependence upon doctors and their skills.
Two assumptions are at work in the medical meaning of playing God. First is the assumption that decisions regarding life and death are the prerogative of God. The second follows from the first: When a human being has the power of life and death, society places that person in a godlike role. This elicits a second anxiety; namely, worry that the person in the godlike role will succumb to the temptation of pride, or hubris. The concept of hubris articulates the more inchoate fear that human beings will presume too much, overreach themselves, violate some divinely appointed limit, and reap destruction. Anxiety over hubris marks the overlapping transition from the second to the third meaning of the phrase playing God. 2ff7e9595c
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