Bioconservatism is a stance of hesitancy about biotechnological development especially if it is perceived to threaten a social order. Strong bioconservative positions include opposition to the genetic, prosthetic and cognitive modification of human beings in particular. Biotechnology is technology based on biology, especially when used in agriculture, food science, and medicine. ... Social order is a concept used in sociology, history and other social sciences. ... Genetics (from the Greek genno γεννώ= give birth) is the science of genes, heredity, and the variation of organisms. ... Cyberware is a relatively new and unknown field. ... Cognitive The scientific study of how people obtain, retrieve, store and manipulate information. ...

Whether arising from a conventionally right-leaning politics of religious/cultural conservatism or from a conventionally left-leaning politics of environmentalism, bioconservative positions oppose medical and other technological interventions into what are broadly perceived as current human and cultural limits in the name of a defense of "the natural" deployed as a moral category. The examples and perspective in this article do not represent a worldwide view. ... Conservatism is a major political philosophy supporting traditional values or an established social order. ... In politics, left-wing, the political left or simply The Left are terms that refer to the segment of the political spectrum typically associated with any of several strains of socialism or social democracy/Social liberalism. ... Environmentalism is the support or involvement with the environmental movement by environmentalists. ... See drugs, medication, and pharmacology for substances that are used to treat patients. ... The natural law or law of nature is a system of the justice that exists independently of the positive law of a given political order. ...

Bioconservative skepticism toward biomedical and other particular technological developments often is, but need not always be, part of a more general technophobic perspective or critique of technological society. Bioluddism represents a more radical and sweeping anti-biotechnological perspective. Technophobia is the fear of modern technology. ... The term luddite is both a political/historical term relating to the anti-technology workers in Britain during the Industrial Revolution and a pejorative used to attack those who are perceived as being uncompromisingly or unnecessarily opposed to one or more technological innovations. ...

Technoprogressivism is the stance that contrasts with bioconservatism. Techno-progressivism, technoprogressivism, or tech-progressivism, is a stance of active support for technological development in general and for human practices of genetic, prosthetic, and cognitive modification in particular. ...

See also

• Bioethics
• Biopolitics
• Genetic engineering
• History of science and technology
• Human enhancement technologies
• Nanotechnology
• Neuroethics
• Reprogenetics
• Technological evolution

Bioethics is the ethics of biological science and medicine. ... The term Biopolitics or Biopolitical can refer to several things: An axis on the political spectrum that reflects positions towards reproductive technology and genetic engineering. ... An iconic image of genetic engineering; this 1986 autoluminograph of a glowing transgenic tobacco plant bearing the luciferase gene of the firefly strikingly demonstrates the power and potential of genetic manipulation. ... The history of science and technology (HST) is a field of history which examines how humanitys understanding of science and technology has changed over the millennia. ... Human enhancement technologies (HET) are technologies that can be used not simply for treating illness and disability, but also for enhancing human capacities and characteristics. ... A mite next to a gear set produced using MEMS, the precursor to nanotechnology. ... Neuroethics is the bioethics subcategory concerned with neuroscience. ... Reprogenetics is a term referring to the merging of reproductive and genetic technologies expected to happen in the near future as techniques like preimplantation genetic diagnosis become more available and more powerful. ... Origins of theory According to Czech philosopher Radovan Richta, in his 1967 publication “Man and Technology in the Revolution of Our Day”, technology (which he defines as “a material entity created by the application of mental and physical effort to nature in order to achieve some value”) evolves in three...

External links

• Review of Liberation Biology: Bailey takes on the bioconservatives (A Better Earth, September 2005)
• Bigotry's New Frontier (Dale Carrico, IEET, August 2005)