In the emerging technological age the idea of ​​science without ethics has become a central issue. In Margaret Atwood's novel Oryx and Crake, unethical science is explored across two dystopian worlds designed by Atwood, all through the eyes of protagonist Jimmy, or Snowman, as he is known after humanity is demolished by a devastating plague. The world that Jimmy has constant flashbacks to throughout the novel describes a time in the probably not so near future where science and technology seem to be developing faster than ethics and human responsibility. The second world produced by Atwood is a post-human world where "Crakers", creatures similar to humans but without human flaws, are among the last living beings on the planet, as well as invading genetically modified animals such as rakhunks, wolves, and pigoons. Crake, Jimmy's twisted and morally questionable childhood friend, is behind humanity's collapse and overall is a symbol of all the negative possibilities that can arise from scientific thinking detached from ethics. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Throughout the novel, Atwood plays with the idea of ​​anthropocentrism, the idea that humans are the dominant and most morally significant animals in the world. Through Crake and his obsession with unethical science, Atwood explores the dangers of trying to push the limits of humanity and anthropocentrism; turns Oryx and Crake into a cautionary tale of the future. In Oryx and Crake, Atwood contrasts the science-obsessed character of Crake with Jimmy who largely embodies the humanities. With all the cold, detached futuristic madness that takes place in the novel, Jimmy acts as a voice of reason, a voice of the humanities. To create the character of the all-powerful Crake, Atwood begins his interactions with Jimmy as a teenager. High on marijuana, Jimmy and Crake played computer games focused on creation and destruction, such as "Barbarian Stomp" or "Blood and Roses." Jimmy describes Blood and Roses as a trading game similar to Monopoly , except that the content of this game is much more vulgar. Jimmy describes the Blood side as playing with "human atrocities for the counters, large-scale atrocities: individual rapes and murders didn't count, there must have been large numbers of people wiped out." away. Massacres, genocides, things like that. The Roses team played with human conquests,” (Atwood 79). seems to be incredibly intrigued by both activities, Jimmy plays quietly but actively knows that these actions and games are morally wrong. , at one point even calls "Blood and Roses" an "evil game" (79) At this point in the novel, the reader begins to understand that Crake is a budding psychopath with an inflated ego and a nasty God complex, which contrasts with Jimmy. Although Jimmy has flaws, as the narrator of the story he is the sole voice of ethics, or moral reasoning. Overall, Crake is mentally detached from the harm he is doing in games or the harm he is watching child pornography, and his cold ways are what make him susceptible to dedicating his life to unethical science, and basically single-handedly bringing the humanity to its terrible situation. and a bloody death. In the futuristic society produced by Atwood, unethical science is prevalent and people are incredibly in love with biotechnology and its potential benefits. Near the beginning of the novel, in one of Jimmy's many flashbacks to the previous world, Jimmy remembers the piggies, which are essentially agenetically engineered pig whose sole purpose on the planet was to "grow a fail-safe assortment of human tissue organs" a genetic knockout pig transhost: organs that would transplant seamlessly and avoid rejection, but would also be able to repel the attacks of opportunistic microbes and viruses, the strains of which were increasing every year” (22). Anthropocentrism in Jimmy's society is so dominant that biotechnology companies have resorted to altering other species to satisfy their own transhumanistic needs. However, what Jimmy's society doesn't realize is that trans humanism comes with a price, what happens when there is a change in life expectancy for humans? serious negative impact on both the environment that humans actively and knowingly destroy every day, and a devastating impact on species beyond humans. To accentuate the negative effect of anthropocentrism, Crake reveals that most of the "bugs had now been fixed, Crake said, and new varieties appeared every month... 'If I could say they were fake,' Crake said, 'it was a bad job. These butterflies fly, they mate, they lay eggs, the caterpillars come out.” (200) The biotech companies of this age are essentially playing God and see no harm in what they do when they make fun. other species because in their heads they believe they are the center of the universe, they don't see negative aspects in playing God because they trust that technology and science will solve any problem that arises, Crake is not the only one to exploit both humans and nature. It has been revealed that biotech companies like HelthWyzer or RejoovenEssence that dominate society not only strive to expand human life expectancy, but also produce new diseases to get people to rely. on their products. The science stripped of ethics in these private profit biotech companies forces one to question the value of humanity, not only are humans altering other species to benefit themselves, but they are also making their peers and relatives sick on purpose to satisfy the their sadistic capitalist needs. These evil and dehumanizing plans were kept secret from the general populace, obviously to avoid an all-out uprising, and once people found out about them, such as Jimmy's mother or Crake's father, they were eliminated; their morality and ethics got them killed. In Jay Sanderson's scholarly article, "Pigoons, Rakhunks, and Crakers: Margaret Atwood's Oryx and Crake and Genetically Engineered Animals in a (Latourian) Hybrid World," Sanderson argues that the citizens of Jimmy's society are so infatuated with biotechnology and its potential benefits that they are willing to take Crake's BlyssPluss pill without knowing or really caring about its side effects because they hoped that it would improve their quality of life and help them eliminate their vulnerability as human beings. These people did not know that the BlyssPluss pill actually contained Crake's deadly Jetspeed Ultra Virus Extraordinary (JUVE), which causes the human body to completely shut down, resulting in mass human extinction (Sanderson 220). It can be argued that Crake is not entirely evil in deceiving society into taking a pill that will end its existence, as they know it. In humans, Crake sees a species that is slowly killing itself and the planet it inhabits. Resources are becoming increasingly scarce, pollution created by humans is making the climate harsher and social classes are becoming more widespread,causing wars and unrest within the species. Crake realizes that humanity itself cannot be saved, so he devises the creation of a "better" species. Towards the end of the novel, when the two dystopian worlds collide, Crake introduces Jimmy to his life's work, the "Crakers". Throughout his life, Crake's isolation from human emotions and the things that make people truly “human” made him a cold-hearted, logical man obsessed with the idea of ​​science without ethics. Crake doesn't value humanity, Crake sees humanity as weak, which really separates him from the rest of his population who are.strongly anthropocentric. Like many other species before man, Crake predicts humanity's extinction, but accelerates it with the BlyssPluss pill, which is sent across the world and successfully massacres almost all of humanity, except Jimmy and perhaps a few others, as Atwood leaves readers believing the end of the novel. During the phases of Crake's life, Atwood throws quirky jokes about refrigerator magnets. In Crake's college life they were much more playful, but towards the end of Crake's life they turned into messages about creation, such as "Where God is, there is no 'is man,' (Atwood 301), because here Crake ignores all other life forms and plays God. The obsession in Crake's life and work was with his "Crakers," who are, simply put, extremely genetically modified humans. Taking positive and beneficial aspects from many different species, Crake creates the “perfect” human or creature. Crake's children are not destructive creatures; Crake had eliminated all evil “human” tendencies. Within the Sons of Crake there were no notions of racism, and with that the negative repercussions of racism were not present. There was no need for hierarchy, all Crakes were equal and there was no class system. The Children of Crake are not territorial; they share their land equally. For them, food will never be a separating factor within the population because the Children of Crake eat roots, berries and leaves, and always find abundant supplies of them. Sexuality will never be a torment for them, because like most mammals, the Children of Crake go into heat at regular intervals, so they don't waste their time dwelling on lost love or unrequited love. The Children of Crake only live to be around thirty, so there is no fear of mortality, or as far as Crake knows since at his passing the "Crakers" were nowhere near the thirty year mark of self-destruction (305). Above all, in the Children of Crake the tendency to make art or to believe in a God or a religion is absent. Crake had tried to take away almost everything that makes a human being. Whenever Snowman (Jimmy) interacts with the "Crakers" they are revealed to be naive and simple creatures. However, as the novel progresses, what Crake desired from these efficient beings begins to slip away. Towards the middle of the novel, when Snowman decides to embark on his adventure, he stops at the campsite of the Children of Crake to let them know that he is leaving, when he arrives at the camp he is greeted by Abraham Lincoln. Snowman notes that the one called Abraham Lincoln is becoming “some kind of leader, that one. Beware of leaders, Crake always said. First the leaders and commanders, then the tyrants and slaves, then the massacres. It's always been like this." (155) so here we can see that a form of hierarchy is becoming prevalent within the “perfect group”. As a stab at Crake for betraying him and killing his loved ones and all of humanity, Snowman presents Crake to the "Crakers" as a god, essentially going against Crake's final wishes. Hints of strong religious development occur when the "Crakers" begin to actively worship.