A genetically engineered society would be harmful, potentially creating a barrier to social achievement, and it is my opinion that genetic enhancement should not be allowed at all in humans. Genetic modification is starting to take hold in society today, but by looking at what that society has the potential to become, I believe that it will be possible to see that such a society, one that allows for the genetic modification of humans, is not only unjust but has the potential to cause the destruction of society today, as we know it.
Ronald Green (2008) started out with a basic concept, that of screening “embryos for diseases before they became babies,” choosing “the traits your baby would have” (Pray, 2008). While at first such a technology would be used to simply work to halt the spread of certain defects, Down’s syndrome and the like, this will change as more and more people start doing genetic modifications on their embryos and fetuses in order to ensure that their child was literally perfect in every way. It would reach such a point as those who received no genetic modifications or enhancements would start to be seen as inferior, regardless of whether or not they were actually physically or mentally disabled. If something as simple as a chromosome that was potentially out of place, in spite of the fact that such a misplacement would not affect the individual’s thought processes, mentality, ability to learn, or ability to perform physical tasks, could cause an individual to be looked down on, as though they were as disabled as one who did experience one of those issues, it would not serve to create a better society, but rather a far worse one.
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Job interviews could become as simple as a genetic analysis of a urine sample or a saliva swab, confirming against a genetic database that the individual was who they said they were, and all information associated with that individual would be tied therein. It would no longer be a question of who was the best qualified for the job or who was the most intuitive, but rather whose genes were the best. Genetically engineered societies, for that is what we would become if we were not to halt this before it becomes commonplace, are not only harmful to the men and women who would be able to achieve greatness from their simple natural born states, if not for the genetic requirements, but they are a detriment to society as a whole, discounting individuals on something they have no control over. Some of the best minds on earth, the most brilliant, are individuals who would not have been able to accomplish the same tasks in a genetically modified society. Einstein was unable to tie his shoes, and Hawking is confined to a wheelchair for the entirety of his life, but the minds that were and are trapped within those bodies rife with genetic defects are those which have served to allow our current society to advance, allowing it to become what it is today. What matters is not genetic purpose, but the knowledge, the brain power, and the desire to think; to come up with ideas never before thought of, and to change the very fabric of the society in which we live. Without men and women who are considered to be genetically damaged, society would be at a disadvantage, as it is the power of the mind and the will to succeed that controls the performance of the individual, and not what lies within their cells.
There are those who would argue against this position, stating that the potential benefits of such technologies, the ability to genetically modify humans, is done not out of a desire to create custom humans, but out of a desire to remove the world of ills. To them I say, “Open your eyes!” No modification of the human race, for the purposes of “making things better” has ever gone over well, and the same is true for genetic modification. Hitler thought he was doing the world a favor by removing certain characteristics from the human populace, but he was wrong, and so too is genetic engineering. It is true that it would start out only for good, that individuals would initially only use such a technology for the purposes of being able to remove certain genetic defects from society, reducing the strain on the overall populace and the families who are forced to put their lives on hold to take care of a disabled child, but this is not where it would stop.
As humans are unable to stop continuously creating more and more violent weapons for the sake of improving the amount of available technologies, so too would be the case with humans. It would be just one more thing, and just one more, until nothing was left but a society divided between those who were genetically modified and those who were not. Such a scenario is not implausible, and it would not be the first time that such a scenario has been suggested. GATTACA, the 1997 movie, discussed a world controlled by genetic modification and it showed the populace just how much of a reality this could become. Unfortunately it appears as though society is once more ignoring the warning put to us, the cautionary tale offered up by science fiction, and is attempting to move forward into a genetically modified world.
It is my belief that such a world should never exist, and that our society should never allow something like this to come to pass. Unfortunately, it takes more than one voice shouting out against this possibility, and the majority of the world is controlled by sheep who follow advertising, desiring the perfection that comes from airbrushed touchups. I fear I am of a dying minority.
- Pray, L. (2008) Embryo screening and the ethics of human genetic engineering. Nature Education 1(1):207
- Retrieved on 1/25/14 from http://www.nature.com/scitable/topicpage/embryo-screening-and-the-ethics-of-human-60561
