From: Avatar Polymorph (avatarpolymorph@hotmail.com)
Date: Mon Sep 23 2002 - 00:56:56 MDT
Anders Sandberg writes:
"Actually, here in Europe the European Comission on human rights
have claimed people have a right to be born with an unmodified genome
(based on some muddy reasoning) and I think UNESCO is also claiming
something similar. At the same time prenatal surgery is totally OK, which
shows that the debate is not really about the *outcome* but the means and
the misty connotations they have.
A transhumanist response to this would be to instead affirm
morphological freedom, and seek to figure out some regime for what prenatal
changes might be OK. The point is, we need to go on the ethical
offensive from the other side: most voluntary adult changes are OK, and
prenatal changes are also to a great extent OK, and must be judged by their
actual effects rather than imaginary threats or how they break some
religious principle."
It is incorrect to deliberately construct a new sentient being that is
limited in awareness and choice, including free will. Such sentient beings
should be boosted to the point where they can be offered further assistance.
Sentient beings who are altered prior to the mid-moment of the Singularity
in order to limit their awareness and choice should be boosted after the
mid-moment, to the point where they can be offered further assistance
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