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Freedom Book of the Month for March, 2004:
"Bioevolution: How Biotechnology is Changing Our World"
by Michael Fumento
Encounter Books, 2003, hard cover, 510 pp.
"Hold onto [sic] the bar in front of you and don't stand up. We're in for one heck of a thrill ride" (p.329). That's how Michael Fumento concludes his amazingly comprehensive book Bioevolution: How Biotechnology is Changing the World. Not a book for luddites or precautionary principle advocates, Bioevolution is a fascinating look into the far-reaching world of biotechnology.
Fumento begins with a straightforward, broad definition of biotechnology -- that "genes are at the bottom of it" (p.10). Throughout "Bioevolution", he continues to pierce technical scientific jargon, offering research theories and technological advances in terms that an intelligent lay person can easily understand. He accomplishes that daunting task with an easy, conversational tone that is often clever as well. Reading Bioevolution thus is both a pleasurable and informative investment of time.
While covering a range of medical technologies that would astonish all but the most cynical of the anti-techies, Fumento doesn't shy away from controversial subjects, nor the social implications of all this technical wizardry. Fumento systematically addresses objections to cloning, showing first how getting an exact duplicate of an individual is impossible, then demolishing the argument that cloning must be regulated to avoid using clones as organ-harvesting tools. His exhortation to focus moral issues on "people and their behavior" (p. 114) rather than on the technology, and his powerful concluding chapter make it clear that Fumento understands well the limits of biotechnology, and the important ethical issues that swirl around much of it.
Fumento's focus is on the science, and the capabilities that currently exist as well as those coming in the near future. Yet the heavy hand of the regulatory state inevitably makes its presence known from time to time, such as in an offhand comment about one technology being so new the FDA didn't have any provisions for testing it, or the tidbit that putting a pharmaceutical on the FDA's so-called fast track speeds the testing process by only six to twelve months. Fumento's call for the industry to regulate itself will likely be welcomed by free-market advocates, yet scorned as naive by those who believe that such policing will necessarily fail.
So, exactly how will this wild roller-coaster ride of bioevolution play out in the next twenty years? Much will depend on regulatory agencies, to be sure, but the scope of progress Bioevolution presents across a host of scientific fields makes it clear that better living through chemistry -- especially genetic research -- is inevitable. While it isn't likely to convince technophobes, Bioevolution is a must-read for anyone who wants to try to keep pace with the coming changes, and could be a good outreach tool for pro-market ideas for some. Neither a cheerleader nor a doomsayer, Fumento offers a much-needed, thoughtful examination of a scientific field that is all too often damaged by press-release based reporting that seems equally often intended to scare as to impress.
, current price $20.25
More book information for March 2004
edited by Sunni Maravillosa
February 2004: Prometheus Rebounds by Bill Danks
January 2004: Financial Reckoning Day by William Bonner and Addison Wiggin
Freedom Books of the Year 2003: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
and Healing Our World in an Age of Aggression
December 2003: Diversity: The Invention of a Concept by Peter Wood
November 2003: A Drug War Carol by Susan W Wells and Scott Bieser
October 2003: Healing Our World in an Age of Aggression by Mary J Ruwart
September 2003: Hecate's Glory by Karen Michalson
August 2003: The Bias Against Guns by John R Lott Jr
July 2003: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling
June 2003: Eco-nomics by Richard L. Stroup
May 2003: The Worm in the Apple by Peter Brimelow
April 2003: Shattered Dreams by NCPPR staff
March 2003: The Rule of Lawyers by Walter K. Olson
February 2003: Global Warming and Other Eco-Myths, edited by Ronald Bailey
Freedom Book of the Year 2002: The Ballad of Carl Drega by Vin Suprynowicz
December 2002: Blood of the Roses, by Alex Gabbard
November 2002: The Ultimate Foundation of Economic Science, by Ludwig von Mises
October 2002: The Haunted Air, by F. Paul Wilson
September 2002: Lead Astray and Out of Bounds, Out of Control by Peter Samuel and James V. DeLong respectively
August 2002: Boston's Gun Bible II by Boston T. Party
July 2002: Economics for Real People by Gene Callahan
June 2002: Net Assets by Carl Bussjaeger
May 2002: The Ballad of Carl Drega by Vin Suprynowicz
April 2002: Toward Liberty: The Idea that is Changing the World edited by David Boaz
March 2002: Liberty for Women edited by Wendy McElroy
February 2002: The State vs. the People by Aaron Zelman and Claire Wolfe
Freedom Book of the Year, 2001: Hope by Aaron Zelman and L. Neil Smith
January 2002: Death by Gun Control by Aaron Zelman and Richard W. Stevens
December 2001: The American Zone by L. Neil Smith
November 2001: Ayn Rand and Business by Donna Greiner and Theodore Kinni
October 2001: Junk Science Judo by Steven J. Milloy
September 2001: Jonathan Gullible by Ken Schoolland
August 2001: Hope by L. Neil Smith and Aaron Zelman
July 2001: Dissenting Electorate edited by Wendy McElroy and Carl Watner
June 2001: Tethered Citizens by Sheldon Richman
May 2001: Lever Action by L. Neil Smith
April 2001: The Cato Handbook for Congress from the Cato Institute
March 2001: The Contested Legacy of Ayn Rand by David Kelley
February 2001: Crypto by Steven Levy
January 2001: Total Freedom by Chris Matthew Sciabarra
Freedom Book of the Year 2000: Forge of the Elders by L. Neil Smith
December 2000: The Mystery of Capital by Hernando de Soto
November 2000: Escape from Leviathan by J.C. Lester
October 2000: The Art of Political War by David Horowitz
September 2000: An Enemy of the State by Justin Raimondo
August 2000: The Triumph of Liberty by Jim Powell
July 2000: A Generation Divided by Rebecca Klatch
June 2000: Law's Order by David Friedman
May 2000: Forge of the Elders by L. Neil Smith
April 2000: Reciprocia by Richard G. Rieben
March 2000: The Art of Fiction: A Guide for Writers and Readers by Ayn Rand
February 2000: Addiction is a Choice by Jeffrey A. Schaler
January 2000: Revolutionary Language by David C. Calderwood
Special December 1999 Feature: The Freedom Book of the Year: Send in the Waco Killers: Essays on the Freedom Movement, 1993-1998 by Vin Suprynowicz
November 1999: Conquests and Cultures by Thomas Sowell
October 1999: A Way To Be Free by Robert LeFevre, edited by Wendy McElroy
September 1999: Assassins (Left Behind) by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins
August 1999: Don't Shoot the Bastards (Yet): 101 More Ways to Salvage Freedom by Claire Wolfe
July 1999: The Mitzvah by L. Neil Smith and Aaron Zelman
June 1999: The Incredible Bread Machine by R.W. Grant
May 1999: Send in the Waco Killers by Vin Suprynowicz
April 1999: It Still Begins with Ayn Rand by Jerome Tuccille
March 1999: The Dictionary of Free-Market Economics by Fred Foldvary
February 1999: Feminist Interpretations of Ayn Rand edited by Mimi Reisel Gladstein and Chris Matthew Sciabarra
In December 2004 this page was modified significantly from its original form for archiving purposes.
, founded in 1995, is now a part of ISIL.
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