Spring Break
The ethics of cloning need to be determined now
Alex Stephens
Issue date: 5/1/09 Section: Opinion
Imagine a world where people are no longer born but are grown -- where endless fields are dedicated to the farming of humans to be made into soldiers, slaves and replacements.
No, this isn't a meshing of Huxley and Wachowski. It is one possibility of a future that our generation will soon likely witness.
For centuries, civilizations have sought methods of social engineering -- from the legendary Spartan methods of judging a child's strength, a la the exaggerated "300" to the American Eugenics Movement of the 1930s, social Darwinism and the subsequent Nazi Holocaust. Finding ways to create, as Adolf Hitler phrased it, a "master race" has always been present in one form or another throughout history.
Methods of social engineering progress as technology advances.
Our current understanding of DNA, spurred by biochemists in the 1950s, has led to genome mapping which is the ability to read, like a map, a person's list of genetic traits. Genes that determine the color of your hair and eyes, your potential physical strength and even your lifespan are continually being discovered and understood.
Eventually, doctors will be able to discern and correct undesirable traits in unborn children upon the parents' request. Devastating genetic diseases like cystic fibrosis will be preventable.
But this raises the possibility of "designer children" for those who can afford it. Social stratification would reach new heights; discrimination against "faulty" individuals might become the future equivalent of racism.
The sci-fi movie "Gattaca" presents these possibilities in a medium most of us can relate to.
Cloning is quickly coming to the forefront of ethical debate. In 1996, Scottish scientists created the first reproductively cloned animal, Dolly the sheep, which raised a host of moral questions ranging from the edibility of cloned animals to whether we should be playing God.
Sometimes science erases questions of ethics while prompting new ones, as in the case of stem cells.
No, this isn't a meshing of Huxley and Wachowski. It is one possibility of a future that our generation will soon likely witness.
For centuries, civilizations have sought methods of social engineering -- from the legendary Spartan methods of judging a child's strength, a la the exaggerated "300" to the American Eugenics Movement of the 1930s, social Darwinism and the subsequent Nazi Holocaust. Finding ways to create, as Adolf Hitler phrased it, a "master race" has always been present in one form or another throughout history.
Methods of social engineering progress as technology advances.
Our current understanding of DNA, spurred by biochemists in the 1950s, has led to genome mapping which is the ability to read, like a map, a person's list of genetic traits. Genes that determine the color of your hair and eyes, your potential physical strength and even your lifespan are continually being discovered and understood.
Eventually, doctors will be able to discern and correct undesirable traits in unborn children upon the parents' request. Devastating genetic diseases like cystic fibrosis will be preventable.
But this raises the possibility of "designer children" for those who can afford it. Social stratification would reach new heights; discrimination against "faulty" individuals might become the future equivalent of racism.
The sci-fi movie "Gattaca" presents these possibilities in a medium most of us can relate to.
Cloning is quickly coming to the forefront of ethical debate. In 1996, Scottish scientists created the first reproductively cloned animal, Dolly the sheep, which raised a host of moral questions ranging from the edibility of cloned animals to whether we should be playing God.
Sometimes science erases questions of ethics while prompting new ones, as in the case of stem cells.
Viewing Comments 1 - 3 of 4
Dan
posted 5/01/09 @ 4:22 PM MST
Have you considered that this is not your decision or any American's decision to make for the world? Most of the cloning advancements aren't even coming out of America but rather Europe and Asia and more specifically South Korea. (Continued…)
Andrew
posted 5/03/09 @ 9:42 PM MST
I agree with Alex, i think there are both exciting breakthroughs and real threats to human dignity with the advent of such invasive genetic techniques as child engineering. (Continued…)
North Denver Denizen
Andrew
posted 5/03/09 @ 9:46 PM MST
I agree with Alex. There are potential threats to human rights with the advent of such techniques as child engineering. Altering one's germ line (that is to say the genetic material passed on to subsequent generations) clearly has implications for not only the adult but also for other individuals yet to be born. (Continued…)
Post a Comment