The Bioethics in Science Fiction: Moral Inspiration of Happiness in Brave New World

Bio-ethical exploration has always been a classic theme of modern science fiction. With the rapid development of life science and medicine, gene editing technology and its potential ethical dilemmas and choices have become the key points of science fiction in recent years. These works have captured the momentum of life science developments and potential risks through topics as "artificial person," "transplants," "laboratory babies," "gene editing," "mind control," and "genetic enhancements," focusing on human gene editing techniques, as well as their strong impact on the traditional way of life and social ethics. Among these, the novel Brave New World by the British writer Aldous Huxley depicts the annihilation of human nature under the grinding influence of money and machine as material desires are satisfied by advances in science and technology, one of the root causes being the weak awareness of bio-ethical consciousness. In a world like this, love and responsibility are lost due to alienated material relationships among people, bio-ethical morality is trampled, and virtue awareness is discarded, all of which may cause inappropriate bio-ethical choices to recur and eventually lead to loss of happiness. In essence, the novel reflects the complex emotions and confused values of people pursuing the American dream in the era of scientism and hedonism after World War Ⅰ. Through the asymmetry of responsibility over freedom, as well as the relationship between the self and the other-following Levina's ethical theory of "the other"—the other takes precedence over the self, with infinite absoluteness and transcendence. The novel serves as an opportunity for moral reflection and demonstrates that confirmation of the self lies in the presence of the other. Only in the process of cultivating responsibility and empathy for the other can self-subjectivity be revealed, materialism and technology be brought into full play as a means to an end, and "the self" and "the present" be transcended to experience the existence of happiness and meaning in life.