Recent and ongoing developments in science and technology—such as the prevention and treatment of disease through genetics and the development of increasingly sophisticated computer systems with wide-ranging applications—hold out the promise of vastly improving the quality of human life, but they can also raise serious ethical, legal, and public-policy questions. What direction should scientific inquiry take, and what moral principles should guide it? To what extent and in what ways should governments use public policy to encourage, support, influence, or inhibit scientific and technological research? And when governments do become involved, how can we prevent politics from exercising an inappropriate influence on the course of research?

The thirteen essays in this volume address these questions and related issues from a variety of perspectives. Some explore the implications of genetic engineering, discussing the role of government in funding research in this area and in regulating the uses of the medical technologies which may emerge from it. Some examine the propriety of using genetics to enhance human abilities and ask whether we need to be concerned about the inequalities that may result from such uses. Other essays discuss the need for laws protecting the intellectual property of scientific researchers, attempting to determine whether, on balance, patents promote progress by providing financial incentives or inhibit it by restricting research in areas where there is a danger of liability for patent infringement.