From: hal@finney.org
Date: Fri Dec 01 2000 - 18:48:27 MST
Greg Burch forwards:
> From The Times of India,
> http://www.timesofindia.com/171100/17hlth14.htm
> A poll of 1,015 Americans reveals that although most feel it is okay for
> parents to choose to have a child who can ``give cells" to a sick sibling,
> they largely oppose allowing parents to choose to have an attractive or
> gifted child. Most also feel parents should not choose whether to have a boy
> or girl.
It bothers me that these issues are so often couched in terms of what we
should let other people do. While I recognize that this is the question
we must ask for public policy, there is more to life than public policy.
Before deciding what we would allow others to do, shouldn't we decide
for ourselves what we will do?
I'd rather see a survey asking people if they would (hypothetically) choose
an attractive or gifted child, or choose between a boy and a girl.
Now, it may be that the answers to these questions would be the same as
asking what should be permitted. In that case people are simply trying
to legislate their own taste in the matter. But I would hope that people
can recognize that there is a gray area between the personal choices
they make, and the range of choices others should be permitted to make.
Ask the question openly: "Do you think other people should be allowed to
do only those things that you would choose to do?" Then ask, for each
of these controversial uses of technology, "Would you choose to do this?"
and "Would you allow others to choose to do this?" Wording the questions
like this would get people thinking about whether they are so sure of
their own choices in these complex issues that they would force others
to follow them.
Hal
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