Abstracts n°293

Jean-Jacques Salomon presents here the main arguments in the discussion of human cloning launched in the pages of this month’s issue of the journal. A long-time observer of scientific progress and, more generally, the relationship between science and society, he provides the background to genetic modification and its significance for human identity. Jean-Jacques Salomon outlines the viewpoints of Gregory Benichou and Michel Neyraut, whose articles appear later in the issue, and alerts readers to the growing risk that fiction will be overtaken by reality and the « brave new worid » Aldous Huxley imagined in the 1930s might become our own… not necessarily for the best.