Natwerk Designs

Should the developers of new technology be required to have their innovations screened before they are develop

A doctor has applied for a new patent on new technology involving the use of advanced computers to create a new type of organism. Should the developers of new technology be required to have their innovations screened before they are developed?

Public Comments

1. It depends on what the technology is and whether it is safe to allow the marketplace to work out the bugs. No pun intended.
2. Screening the development of technology isn't that easy and history shows that it usually doesn't work. What you can screen is the release of products into the society and try to make it difficult for them to make money out of it. In fact I will go as far as saying that sometimes it is good to spend effort in a particular technology which has dubious applications, only to open up other more legitimate channels. For example, we know that the effort we spent on space programs was disproportional to what we got out of it, though it led to many other advances in society. So in short, don't just ban a technology because you are not comfortable with it. In needs to be carefully thought out. This is in particular applicable to technologies in relation with life-sciences such as stem-cell research, cloning, regenerative organs, designer babies and so on.
3. In a situation like that... anything concerning genetics or medical testing... I would definitely answer this as YES.