Interpreting the Idea of Reproduction

A basic assumption of this paper is that as technology and knowledge interact, changes in one affect the other. It is important therefore to note their developments and the relationships between them rather than searching for definitive ’causes’. In this sense, scientists and social commentators need each other to interpret human reproduction and technological developments in the light of each other.

The very idea of reproduction conjures up images on the one hand of copying something already in existence and producing it again; and on the other hand producing something new. Medieval copyists regarded this as a pedagogical (teaching) relationship. (Re)production in the sense of copying something already in existence could be regarded pejoratively as mere mimicry or cloning. Reproduction in this sense is merely repeated production and that collapses the notions of production and (re)production i.e., there is no difference.

A more adequate interpretation of (re)production and one that AMAT subscribes to defines knowledge as evolutionary. That allows for the creation and integration of responses to the world including our conceptual heritage, recent technological developments, changes in the nation-state and regional and global policy regimes.