THE ISSUE OF POTENTIAL DANGERS ARISING FROM GENETIC ENGINEERING

There is a thought-provoking story by Ray Bradbury about a time in the future, in which people have mastered the ability to travel into the past. This ability is commercially exploited, and a lively business in touring has been established. Travelers are warned that they must stay on a special path provided by the company, which allows them to view events as they occur, while avoiding any interaction with the era to which they have traveled. In the story, a man has traveled to the age of the dinosaurs. Despite the injunction not to leave the path, he does so, and kills a butterfly. When he returns to his own time, he is no longer a free man living in an advanced society, but a political prisoner jailed under wretched conditions of totalitarian rule.

Initially, the story seems far-fetched, yet upon reflection, one realizes that the point of the narrative is to illustrate the way in which apparently insignificant events can create ripples that, over time, can have major and unforeseen consequences. Most of us have experienced this in our own lives. We can all recall situations like forgetting our umbrella, debating whether to go back for it, deciding to do so, just missing the elevator, taking the stairs, pausing to tie our shoelaces, and thereby meeting the person whom we will eventually marry.