The society that we all live in today is so set on achieving the impossible.
With a new era of technology unfolding before our eyes, the question of morality and where the line is drawn continues to threaten our society and leads to ponder whether or not these advancements are truly positive for the human race collectively. Science has progressed so profoundly over time, that the idea of turning a baby into an ideal, or “designer” baby is starting to become realistic.Another medical breakthrough is the concept of cloning, and wondering how far can we can take this type of power over mother nature. Genetic mutations also have a high probability of negative impact in terms of discrimination and inequality of our human nature. Pertaining to genetic manipulation, genetically modified food is also becoming a serious topic in today’s world in regards to their long term effects and the possible consequences of such creations.
To illustrate the current problem of technological breakthroughs, one must understand the morality that the human race shares.The Dalai Lama explains that “We are all born with a basic equality of our human nature, with certain potentialities; certain cognitive, emotional, and physical abilities; and the fundamental right to seek happiness and overcome suffering”. (Dalai Lama, 80) With this in mind, the idea of manipulating a child’s genes for the creation of children with enhanced characteristics, whether cognitive or physical, begins to be questioned. It is mentioned several times in Dalai Lama’s article that our actions and how we use these technological breakthroughs should be motivated by the concept of compassion and general good for the human race.Following this statement, it should be known that genetic modifications should be performed only for medical reasons - as in the curing of a particular genetic deficiency. The act of modifying a baby’s genes to select specific traits may not ultimately be beneficial for the child.
While it may seem as if designer babies would have a positive effect in the world, many complications arise with this highly debated topic. For example, money is a significant issue relating to the levels of a society. It’s what separates the wealthy from the poor and says what you can and can not afford.With a procedure as complicated and intricate as cloning, it is acceptable to say that only humans that are wealthy will be able to afford cloning, at least for the first few generations. This is due to how over time, how to make an invention or how to perform a procedure becomes gradually more understandable and easier, thus making it more affordable.
An example of this would be the iPhone and how older generations have become significantly cheaper, therefore allowing the majority of most populations to attain an iPhone.This comparison does not however, in any way, mean that a process as complex as cloning will be affordable as fast as the iPhone has become affordable in nearly a decade. It will most likely take multiple decades to figure out this new discovery and for it to become significantly affordable in which middle class humans might be able to partake in the procedure. With this situation, it essentially becomes easier for the designer babies to be bullied and/or discriminated later in life due to their genetic modification and their rareness.Another issue arises when thinking about future generations and how our present actions can cause urgent problems in the future.
We, as a society have to understand that any changes to a child’s personality or physical appearance will be handed down to future generations to come and that while the changes may seem suitable for the child and the parents’ intentions and liking, it very well may limit the diversity of humanity itself. In addition to designer babies, the idea of cloning has gained noticeable attention in the past few decades.The act of cloning has always been a thing of the impossible, only to be seen in movies and thought of to be sci-fi. However, scientists are getting closer to duplicating certain body parts and in some cases, whole animal beings. Experiments have already been conducted in which little animals such as rats have been cloned and the question now is how far can we go with cloning? People will certainly wonder and try to figure out what else we can do with this new advancement.
Some even want to clone themselves in hopes that when they die, that they’ll live on through the clone, and other want to clone themselves just because they now have the ability to. The problem with this topic, however, is where the line is drawn as to how far we take the concept of cloning. This line, I believe, should be drawn where actions pertaining to cloning are carried out not out of compassionate motivation. Cloning is a serious procedure, and such power needs to be held under control and be only used for situations in which cloning would significantly benefit the person.
Such examples include cases in which a person is in need of a certain body part, such as a kidney, heart, or even a limb. This type of cloning is called “Therapeutic cloning” and rethinks the idea of this breakthrough: “There are some ethical concerns with cloning, including that used for therapeutic purposes. For people who believe that life begins at the time of conception, the product of somatic cell nuclear transfer could be viewed as a human life, and choosing to cultivate stem cells from that egg would be a questionable ethical decision.For people who do not share these beliefs, many types of cloning are still fraught with ethical problems, ranging from questions about how accessible such techniques are to the general public to concerns that problems might arise with cloned tissue, which will only be apparent after years of use.
” (wisegeek. org/web) This quote illustrates the main problems that arise in cloning. Not only does this concept bring present day problems, but who knows what may happen as a long-term effect.The Dalai Lama states that “One of the social and cultural consequences of new genetic technologies is their effect on the continuation of our species, through interference with the reproductive process”. (Dalai Lama, 80) In relevance to genetic mutations, food is starting to become a main target for manipulation.
Genetically modified food is said to be an answer to the ever-growing population that need to be fed.However, could this just be a cover up to use genetically modified food for commercial use as it states in Dalai Lama’s article? “such as producing food that will simply have a longer shelf life, that can be more easily exported from one side of the world to the other, that is more attractive in appearance and more convenient in consumption” (Dalai Lama, 82) This type of greed brings along with it complications in regards to health. For example, if peanut genes are inserted into tomato genes, could someone with a peanut allergy react to the tomatoes? These are the questions that have to be answered before we believe that we can just manipulate how the world performs without the possibility of any dire consequences.Another aspect to this subject relates to the long-term effects of such foods.
Past history has shown instances in which once thought beneficial breakthroughs ended up with serious long term effects. The Dalai Lama explains an example of this in which “the drug thalidomide was found to be excellent for the treatment of morning sickness in pregnant women, but its long-term consequences for the health of the unborn child were not foreseen and proved catastrophic”. (Dalai Lama, 82)These types of medical breakthroughs are continuously attempted without such thought, that the “positive effects” seem to blind humans from the negative effects and how these new advancements have the power to really affect our world and the human race as a whole. Clearly, the human race has advanced to a level in medical technology that has nearly matched mother nature.
Day after day, society continues to attempt to play the role of God and try and decide exactly how genetics should work, wether that be a specific characteristic or trait, the concept of cloning, or modifying food with an intent of positive good.However, with this power, it is essential that our society comes together as one human race to figure out the boundaries of our advancements and assure that any genetic change or manipulation is done out of compassionate motivation and for the good of the human race. Once those questions are answered and morality impedes our attempt of overtaking mother nature, a bright future will be most likely among us.
