I have built my life around my religious beliefs so therefore, it shouldn't be a surprise
that I would base my argument off of that. Humans were not given the power to
manipulate life in the beginning. God is the only one who has any control over those
kinds of things. But now, our technology has gotten so advanced we now have the
capability to play god, but that does not mean we have the right.
How did the people in the biblical times cope with the diseases that were rampant in their societies? Well, we know they did not go to a genetic engineer and say "fix this". They accepted the fact that dying was a part of life and I believe it made their faith stronger because of it. By accepting something that could not be changed, they lived their lives to the fullest and did not harbor feelings of resentment because they knew there was no way to escape. They appreciated their time on earth more because they knew how easily it could be taken away from them.
I also believe that each person is unique for a reason. Just imagine how boring it would
be if we were all the same. I can barely stand to be around a person with the same
personality as mine (too much alike) much less someone who is EXACTLY the same as
me. Why would parents want to make their child different? A parent should love their child
(ren) no matter what they look like or what type of character they have.
Professor Lee Silver discusses changing his child in order to have a superstar basketball player. I have two problems with this. One: Changing physical characteristics tells me that there was something wrong with the original. What do you tell the child when they ask why they are so much taller than either parent? What if it makes them develop a complex? Two: Professor Silver is presuming that this child will want to play basketball. What if they don't? What if this child wants to be a jock? Being tall will make that practically impossible since smaller riders help the horse move easier and faster.
Suppose God created this child to be the best jock ever, with the fastest record that
cannot be beaten. And the child dreamed of being a jock. Because of tampering this
child's DNA, that dream will never come true.
Even with strict regulations, there will still be those who will break the law. And the
consequences could be dire. Who would be making the decision for what kind of genes
are legal and those that are illegal? And the one's transplanting the gene, are they
trustworthy? By inserting the wrong gene or a dangerous gene could mean the end of the
child's life or other's lives. For instance, a military regime wants to take over the world.
They now have an endless supply of soldiers whose DNA could be manipulated into
making them the perfect warriors. Or governments would not have any reason to worry
about the welfare of their soldiers, mental of physical. They could always replace them.
Professor Silver also stated "We gain control over our own evolution". God did not give
us the ability to develop our technology so that one day we could take over his job.
Evolution is meant to be a natural process developed from natural causes, not
manufactured ones.
Murder would be easier whether its an individual or genocide. You could replace all the
people killed and make it so that the new individuals would not oppose or question
commands. Just imagine if Hitler or Stalin were alive in this age, what kind of damage
they could do by manipulating the genes of every single person they killed during their
reign. They could make it to where the entire country worshipped them because they
murdered the innocent. Its just like brainwashing except these dictators do not have to
work so hard to convince their people since they are already predisposed to not question
authority.
I know some of you are thinking these are some harsh and rather obscure ideas but
history has proved that humans take things beyond the level they are supposed to go.
This misuse of technology will lead to cloning since that is the next step in the evolution
of science. Cloning had its own complications as well. It took scientists and engineers 276 attempts before they successfully cloned Dolly. Humans are more complex than a sheep is and therefore have a higher risk of failure. What would happen to these mutations? Technically, they would still be considered human. Are they going to be killed? Disposed of?
I recommend two things before you decide on judgement. One: read a book
called "Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley. Two: watch the movie "The Sixth Day" with
Arnold Schwarzenegger. The first is about a society who has been cloned and conditioned to be the same as everyone else. The second is when cloning humans is still illegal but someone has decided to take advantage of the situation for his own benefit. If you still feel indifferent toward this issue or if you walk away without questioning yourself on its morality, these problems will appear in our future.
The power to give life and take life away is too tempting for some people to just ignore.
Who doesn't want the power of God? Humans are very selfish, greedy creatures. Deny it
all you want; that desire is within all of us whether its visible on the surface or lies
beneath.
Just curious, Where are you getting your information?
Once upon a time in my little mind.
By me Kaity Kat
There was a video presentation during a sociology class that talk about parents who were looking into genetic engineering for their future children.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TN9ep4B9Hw0
This is the link for the video on youtube, if you're interested.
I'm going to straighten out some of your thoughts.
For one, you cannot really change a person genetically once they're past about the first or second mitosis of the embryo. Were talking like, within days of contreception. Embryos start out as four (correct me if I have these numbers mixed at all) and split, making identical copies of itself called mitosis, until it reaches fetus stage. As more cells are created, they become specialized into what they're job will be (ie liver cell vs skin cell vs brain cell, ect.). [Note: This is why stem cells are so vied after, because they literally become whatever they need to be.] Anyway, so within these itty bitty cells is the DNA which will tell them to be short or have brown hair or have male pattern baldness, in addition to how many and where cells should be. So, logically, once the four cells have split, if you wanted little Timmy to have green eyes instead of his genetically-dispositioned brown eyes, you'd have to go into each of those cells and change the genetic code to say green instead of brown. It becomes exponentially harder to change each of these codes (because you have to do it to each cell) once they're already split one or two times. When you have a full grown human, it would be flat out impossible.
And your example of a basketball star. Here we come into nature vs nurture (which is a major component in Brave New World). Do you think you'd still be the same person you are today if, lets say, you had never been introduced to the idea of God and your father beat you ever night? I can guarantee you would not have the same convictions or beliefs. The same is true for a basketball star. You could give him all the genetic advantages for basketball, but that doesn't mean eh's going to pop of the womb and be signed up with the NBA. He'd first have to be taught the rules, the plays, the theories behind it. None of that is in your genome. In BNW, we don't see the Indian kid go crazy when he doesn't get his drugs like everyone else because he had never before experienced it.
And surely you've had vaccinations (you have to have them to go to school). How is that keeping in with Biblical-style of "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger"? The first vaccinations had nothing to do with genetic engineers: were talking Jenner infecting milk maids with small pox to see if they caught it. Nothing scientific in the ways you're thinking of. And, by saying "They accepted the fact that dying was a part of life and I believe it made their faith stronger because of it", are you suggesting that even though we might have the ability to prevent polio, lets have thousands of kids die from it so that their parents learn to appriciate the ones still alive? Why should we not use the technology if we have it?
And, my two bits on this idea, I would totally opt for genetic engineering, Despite what Gattaca might have told you, we're not looking into specifying hair color or height, we're looking into preventing cancers, rhemtoid arthritus, alzheimers (and maybe some male pattern baldness). And Gattaca is wrong on most accounts anyway.