Challenging Nature: The Clash of Science and Spirituality at the New Frontiers of Life [Hardcover]

Lee M. Silver (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 30, 2006

Biotechnology is the oldest and most widespread of inventions, providing sustenance for humankind since the beginning of civilization. Until recently, however, its tools were crude and its implementation was opaque. Today new understanding in the life sciences brings both precision and transparency to the process. Modern inventions could alleviate human suffering, feed the world, and, at the same time, stem the tide of earth's ecological degradation. Yet ironically, biotechnology becomes evermore contentious. On the left, New Age secularists rail against genetically modified crops. On the right, religious Americans want embryo stem-cell research to be a felony. While they share seemingly little beyond mutual contempt, Silver argues that both political camps are driven -- consciously or subconsciously -- by a fundamental fear of violating a higher spiritual authority, imagined either as the creator God of the Bible, who rules from above, or a vague Mother Nature goddess here on earth.

In Challenging Nature, Silver offers a provocative look at the collision of science, religion, pseudoscience, and politics. A hands-on scientist who has actually manipulated genes, he leaves the laboratory, traveling the globe in what he calls “one scientist's journey from a cloistered community, in which life is assumed to be combinations of complex molecules and information flow between them, to a world of humanity dominated by soul and spirits, and to the intense chaos of Mother Nature at large.” The result is a fascinating book that could provide a wake-up call for the West, where the economic ramifications of pseudoscience may be enormous: a future in which Asia becomes dominant in biotechnological advances.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Silver, a molecular biologist at Princeton, examines new dimensions of the contentious debate between science and religion over cloning and other biotechnologies, and brings fresh insights to it. Many Western religious people believe biotechnology is an attempt to play God and that human clones would be created not in God's image but in the image of humankind. Such arguments rest on the nature of humanity, and Silver points out that the only characteristic that makes us human is not that we have a soul but that we have human parents. Silver also explores the debate over genetically modified foods and synthetic crops. He argues that the organic and natural foods movements make their case on spiritual grounds, imbuing Mother Nature with a spiritual force equal to the force of the Christian God. Silver points out, however, that Mother Nature is a violent, not a benevolent, deity, and can cause more disasters than the making of synthetic foods ever will. Finally, Silver points out that biotechnology presents little problem for Eastern religions that believe in reincarnation. In the words of one Buddhist scientist, therapeutic cloning "restarts the cycle of life." Silver's provocative ideas and his graceful prose open new avenues for discussion of the challenges that face science and spirituality. (June 1)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

The archetype of mortal defiance, Prometheus has found a new champion. Outspoken molecular biologist Silver argues that only scientists willing to join Prometheus in challenging divine prohibitions will ever deliver on the promise of new genetic technologies. Although despairing of ever expunging spiritual beliefs from liberal democracies altogether, Silver hopes that a truly open and rational public dialogue will expose the folly of continuing to allow religious fundamentalists to impose needless restrictions on scientific research. It particularly galls Silver that such religionists often confuse an ill-informed public by cleverly wrapping their religious objectives in scientific rhetoric. Surprisingly, Silver sees the Christian obstructionists of the Religious Right finding allies among the left-leaning, post-Christian devotees of nature. Both groups recoil from the prospect of using new science to improve human genes or to reengineer the plants and animals humans rely on for food. Both groups, Silver asserts, fail to realize that humans have been productively intervening in natural reproductive processes for millennia--and should now use available tools to do so more aggressively, both to minimize human suffering and to maximize ecological health. The relentlessness with which Silver disputes the views of his opponents will impress many readers--and alienate others. But this book will surely fuel precisely the kind of debate Silver recognizes as essential in a democracy sorting out perplexing scientific possibilities. Bryce Christensen
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 464 pages
• Publisher: Ecco (May 30, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060582677
• ISBN-13: 978-0060582678
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.4 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,530,273 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Author of Remaking Eden, Challenging Nature, Mouse Genetics, and Genetics: from genes to genomes.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

66 of 72 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Superb, September 7, 2006

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Dr. Lee D. Carlson (Baltimore, Maryland USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Challenging Nature: The Clash of Science and Spirituality at the New Frontiers of Life (Hardcover)

The current battle between "natural" and genetically modified (GM) crops has in many instances taken on the intensity and silliness of the battle between the advocates of AC and DC power in the early years of the twentieth century. The advocates of natural foods it seems will go to any length to portray the "dangers" of GM crops, but have no evidence to support their campaign of vituperation. The biotechnology/scientific community for the most part has shied away from countering these tactics, hoping maybe that by ignoring them they will go away. In only a small number of cases have a few confident individuals stepped up to the plate to defend the virtues and science behind biotechnology.

The author of this book is one of these individuals, and he has given the reader a fascinating account of what is possible, and what is not, in genetic engineering and twenty-first century biology in general. He thankfully does not hold back in countering the exaggerations and misrepresentations that emanate both from religious circles and "New Age secularists." But the book contains more than just counterarguments, for the author discusses some of the modern developments in biology that may have not caught the attention of the average reader. These developments are awesome if viewed by what was possible in biotechnology only two decades ago. Breathtaking advances have occurred since then, and with even more coming in the years ahead, one could argue easily that this is the best time ever to be alive.

And life is what this book is about, that is, natural life, which the author argues correctly constitutes genetically modified organisms as well as organisms that have come about without the intervention of humans. To claim otherwise is usually the province of religion or some other form of superstition, is part of a vague political goal, or is at times as the author puts it "hidden in layers of self-deception." He therefore does not hesitate to criticize religious beliefs and the elusive concept of "faith" and for the most part his commentary is correct and avoids unnecessary confrontation. Even the concept of the human self as being a unique and well-defined entity is questioned by the author, quoting some of the latest research in neuroscience that supports the notion that the self is an organized conglomeration of neuronal synapses. The concept of the "soul" is criticized and set aside as being superfluous and lacking scientific support. Such concepts, along with many of the common superstitions and beliefs that seem to transcend culture can be rejected with confident Laplacian pronouncements.

But the best part of this book is the author's speculations on the future of genetics. He points out that the developmental engineering of life forms, such as the creation of dinosaur genomes, as very plausible. This would be done by utilizing `evolutionary deconstruction' to `reconstruct' genomes that are long extinct. He points out that such developments are happening even now, with the embryos of chickens engineered to have scales instead of feathers, and have teeth instead of beaks. It is extremely likely that future genetic engineers will manipulate the development as well as the metabolism of life forms. The author expresses the heartfelt wish that he will be around to witness these developments. This reviewer is in complete agreement and the fingers are crossed.

54 of 59 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Challenging Christian and Gaian Gadflies at the New Frontiers of Life, October 31, 2006

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Carl Flygare (San Jose, CA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Challenging Nature: The Clash of Science and Spirituality at the New Frontiers of Life (Hardcover)

In "Challenging Nature: The Clash of Science and Spirituality at the New Frontiers of Life" molecular biologist Lee Silver defends science and biotechnology from a perversely orthogonal cabal of retrograde fundamentalist Christians ensnared in faith-based fallacies abetted by progressive Gaia devotees saddled with equally mystical mumbo-jumbo. Silver positions these constituencies as allergic reactions to the increasing explanatory power of science and correctly notes that both viewpoints are spiritually motivated. He forcefully argues that eco-environmentalism simply swaps Mother Nature as a quasi-Goddess for the male God of Abraham. The President's Council on Bioethics - as presently constituted by the Bush administration - is properly excoriated by word and deed as little more than a dysfunctional mélange of befuddled science deniers, who with fox in the henhouse inanity circumscribe the activities of the US biotech community.

Silver succinctly deconstructs the ideological bias underlying essential concepts "like organic, natural, species, human being and life itself" and extends this reasoning to encompass why "nearly every literate person perceives natural as a synonym for good, whereas the opposite idea - unnatural, artificial and synthetic - evokes a reflexive negative reaction." That nature operates by natural selection "red in tooth and claw" (or green in root and branch) is dramatically framed in a pitiless examination of the vicious and unceasing struggles between Amazon rainforest organisms versus the human preference for pastoral Pollyannaism.

After realistically portraying nature, Silver tracks 10,000+ years of human biological manipulation exemplified by prehistoric plant selectors and animal breeders - astute biotechnologists given available means and their success in producing non-familiar crops such as maize and rice, along with animals such as sheep that are naturally implausible. To illustrate the dangers of the illusory "natural, good, safe" trinity Silver incisively contrasts the regulatory treatment and public perception of organic and conventional/biotech farming, along with dubious "vitalistic" claims fringe herbal/homeopathic medicines make against mainstream pharmaceuticals.

Many of the most sensitive topics from a Judeo-Christian perspective are similarly dissected. Silver makes a compelling case for the lack of clear boundaries within and between species, between normal and abnormal embryonic development, and between the life of whole complex organisms and their component parts. In doing so, he demolishes fraudulent fundamentalist Christian assertions on the status of embryos and the fanciful concept of ensoulment. Chimeras (the nearly complete absorption of one embryo by another) and developmental aberrations that result in human monsters with two heads are presented as questions that shatter the smug conceits of faith - not as morbid titillations that mock real suffering.

Silver astutely notes that Asian religions such as Buddhism and Hinduism present few problems for biotechnology since these belief systems don't posit a supernatural creator with a master plan. In these worldviews "scientists playing God" ceases to be a meaningful objection since each spiritual being is responsible for its own future. Should American biotech leadership stumble - and Silver eloquently shows how this would be a socioeconomic debacle with significant quality of life and environmental consequences - the soundbyte sermons of televangelists goading pliant flocks, along with Jeremy Rifkin's postmodern luddite riff-raff, will be ultimately responsible.

As Silver notes, the most responsible thing humanity can do as a species, is to use our emergent power wisely and embrace the tools that modern biotechnology offers to meet challenging problems - such as global warming and loss of species diversity - while minimizing collateral impact. In the process he acknowledges that we will continue to modify nature, just have we have done for millennia. We should be deliberate and thoughtful, but not fearful, as we enter into a new era.

52 of 59 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Thought provoking and, above all, fun!, June 19, 2006

By 

Marina Simone "Marina" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Challenging Nature: The Clash of Science and Spirituality at the New Frontiers of Life (Hardcover)

I LOVED this book!!! This wide-ranging book looks at science through the lens of different cultures in the US, Europe, Asia, and even Africa. It is extremely well-researched and often conveys information through story-telling. Even though a lot of scientific information is presented, it is done so with clarity and even in an entertaining manner. The author presents both sides of a controversy, sets out the essential facts, lets you know where he stands, but then invites the reader to make up his or her own mind. The book is a very easy read. It tackles a number of controversial topics and is extremely provocative. It deserves to be widely read!!!