Ridley was praised for his uncanny ability to explain highly technical scientific issues in a way that was intriguing and accessible to the general public. However, that doesn't mean the book is without controversy. Although Ridley takes a moderate stance on almost every issue in the book, his sense for the future is that projects like the Human Genome Project are fundamentally misguided. His sense of the future is that the future will contain eugenics and genetic engineering, but he states that there are many serious risks to that future, especially when it comes to government oversight, interference, and policy.
The book runs the gamut from scientific issues all the way to historical issues, like the mistreatment of genetic engineering by the US government and the Nazis in WWII. Ridley's concerns about government interference go all the way from conspiracy (like the Supreme Court's involvement in terrifying eugenics projects) to health crises like prion disease outbreaks. Ultimately, Ridley is most concerned not by evil (which he is concerned about, obviously) but by over-simplification. Over-simplified ideas are very dangerous in such a delicate mechanism like DNA encoding.
Ultimately, Ridley believes that progress is inevitable, and he explains why he is hopeful about genetic engineering projects like the creation of animal meats for human consumption, or even augmentations to the human gene code. Although those issues are highly controversial and philosophical troubling (to many), Ridley is confident that the scientific community has a good shot at doing these things in a helpful, ethical way.
