From: jeff davis (jrd1415@yahoo.com)
Date: Thu May 02 2002 - 19:10:38 MDT
Extropes,
The question--of enhancements of one's child--makes
very little sense--to me at least--without specifying
the very important aspect of context. B's 1, 2, 3,
and 4 certainly suggest the importance of context.
Probably--almost certainly--before anyone tries the
enhancement sort of genetic manipulation, there will
have been many attempts at methodologically similar
procedures to achieve the conventionally-legitimate
medical goal of remediating some undesirable
condition. When this has been perfected--more or
less--so that it is accepted as routine and
non-controversial, then an attempt at enhancement
using similar methods should provoke significantly
less ethical concern. In vitro fertilization and
heart transplants, for example, are utterly ho hum
these days.
I'm wondering about whether the "doogie" gene is
already present in humans. How it might contribute
naturally to intelligence level, and what other genes
play a role. I expect that a good deal of this info
will be available, and will contribute to the
specifics of the procedure, and expectations of the
outcome, before the first enhancement attempt is made.
At the moment we're awash in media profiteering--money
to be made hyping a hot button issue, or, for that
matter, manufacturing one--and political
opportunism--there are careers to be made telling
people what to think and who to vote for in order to
save them from the boogie man of scary future tech.
As for my choices for my children, I wouldn't touch
anything not established as safe. Having said that, I
would be looking first for enhancements in appearance
and athletic ability. After that, I wouldn't shy away
from making additional choices--maybe about
temperament, maybe about intelligence--given the
opportunity. The whole idea of leaving a child's
endowments to chance--out of some prejudice in favor
of tradition or against "playing god"--is nonsensical
to me. People want choices the way they want freedom.
And the more important the matter in question the
more desirable the freedom to choose. I can hardly
imagine an issue of greater importance than the
opportunities/circumstances/destiny of one's
children--with the possible exception of the destiny
of one's self.
Best, Jeff Davis
"Everything's hard till you know how to do it."
Ray Charles
__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Health - your guide to health and wellness
http://health.yahoo.com
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Sat Nov 02 2002 - 09:13:47 MST