From: Max More (max@maxmore.com)
Date: Wed Oct 28 1998 - 01:29:03 MST
At 09:28 PM 10/27/98 -0800, Hal wrote:
>
>Suppose a ship is being launched to the stars, at relatively slow speeds,
>which will take centuries to make the journey. Even with longevity and
>hibernation, it is likely that children will be born, just as have been
>born on other migrations. This is part of the historical pattern of life,
>and doesn't seem to raise new ethical problems.
>
>Bringing kids into such an environment dooms them to life in space
>as certainly as biologically adapting them would. If we accept the
>historical precedent for parents to have children in environments which
>limit their choices, shouldn't we accept that modifying them is equally
>permissible?
If a whole bunch of people are going into space for a long journey to
another star, then it may sense for them to have children with no legs (or
extra arms). Given that these people are entering a different environment,
they would be *increasing* their children's abilities and fitness.
Certainly I don't see a major objection to this. (Possible objections: It
makes far more sense to upload for an interstellar trip to save huge
amounts of energy: maybe the ship should be spun for gravity and normal
children produced to avoid cultural problems.) The engineered children are
being given the maximum opportunities for the situation they will be born
into.
This is different from the case as described by Pizulli. The legless people
may be well adapted for a space voyage. But they may not want to go on the
voyage. Then, they either must compelled or conditioned into going (both of
which I find ethically unacceptable), or they will stay on Earth and find
themselves physically disadvantaged.
In one case, given that you're going on the trip, you are maximizing your
engineered children's choices and abilities. In the other you are reducing
them, perhaps drastically (if they are forced to go). So I see these as
essentially different cases from a moral point of view.
Max
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Max More, Ph.D.
<more@extropy.org> or <max@maxmore.com>
http://www.maxmore.com
Consulting services on the impact of advanced technologies
President, Extropy Institute:
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