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(4)External and extrinsic factors that influence decision making…
And that leads me to the fourth box. Extrinsic or external factors are many. They are economic, regulatory, legal, the media. The media tend to exaggerate both harms and benefits. It makes great, great headlines if you have a dramatic breakthrough to announce or a terrible misfortune to publicize. So the media tend to be fairly untrustworthy when it comes to the reporting of important scientific information. You may remember a couple of months ago, not more than a couple of months ago, there was a dramatic announcement, headline, not only in the press but on the television, about a new way of treating cancer which was sure fire, 100 percent successful. And nothing happened. It's not working out. It's not being replicated. People who are trying to replicate the results of the people who made the discovery are not able to do that. The Cold Fusion experiment is another example. So these are some of the extrinsic factors that are underlying much of the debate; economic and then regulatory, and we were talking earlier, did we act precipitously in banning clonings. Do we want it to be only a temporary ban or an absolute ban? Because the regulators, or the legislators, are working on the basis of inadequate information, just as the rest of us are. So what I try to do then, in any moral problem, thinking ethically, is to try and get at the facts, which is a long and patient process, identify the operative values--and by the way, there is a distinction between professed and operative values. We profess wonderful things, don't we. Read the inscription under the Statue of Liberty and then walk out in San Francisco and see these people sleeping on the streets, and you say what are the operative values? Forget about the professed values. In conclusion…The principles that I tried to touch on. And then, all of these extrinsic or external factors, some of which may not be obvious but are certainly driving. Therefore, to arrive at any kind of policy or even personal conclusion requires a delicate weighing of all of these factors. Then one has to say, this is where I'm going to come out and these are my reasons, based on this analysis. And if you don't agree with me, tell me, and let's think this through again, because I might have to revise my position if your objections are persuasive. The only way we can move forward is by propounding reasoned positions and then opening ourselves to feedback and criticism and being willing to reformulate if so persuaded. So that's what I wanted to touch on. Now I'm going to give you the opportunity to apply this as you look at some of these scenarios. Do you want to do that right now? And how do you want to do that?
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