From: Bryan Moss (bryan.moss@btinternet.com)
Date: Tue Jun 27 2000 - 12:21:39 MDT
hal@finney.org wrote:
> [...]
> The real issue here is the inability of the unconceived
> infant to consent to this or any other form of genetic
> engineering. The wings would be purely decorative (a
> winged human could not fly, at least not on Earth) and
> probably very inconvenient in most circumstances. So this
> is not an enhancement which I would endorse, at least not
> to a newly conceived infant.
Unborn children can't consent to having hands, feet, limbs,
a torso and a head either; and I have plenty of appendages
that appear to be nothing more than "decoration". But penis
jokes aside; I think this is best thought of as a legal
issue. I'd imagine that parents could be held accountable
for any suffering ill-advised modifications caused their
offspring, but I don't think consent is ethically required
for them to perform those modifications.
BM
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