The advent of the twenty-first century has given rise to various forecasts of technological evolution. Innovations in genetic engineering, robotics, and nanotechnology—a field of science that strives to control individual atoms and molecules to create computer chips and other extremely small devices—have spawned questions surrounding the ethics and potential consequences of society’s increasing dependence on technology.

Many argue that technological advances in robotics will threaten the future of humans by creating a superior form of life that is able to self-replicate. Hans Moravec, a leading robotics researcher, argues that robots created with the ability to reproduce will also be endowed with survival instincts that may jeopardize the human race. In his book Robot: Mere Machine to Transcendent Mind, he writes, “Robotic industries would compete vigorously among themselves for matter, energy, and space...