Genetic Modification

[Reforged]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-...-born.html

Personally I think this news is fantastic.
I'm baffled as to why anyone, especially someone who is a lord and incharge of a hospital would refer to such research as "worthless".
Well thats not strictly speaking true, I do know. People think this type of research will lead to some type of doomsday abominations being made or perhaps a tiered society based on peoples genetics. They would seem to of watched too much sci-fi and be dead to the fact that the latter is already the case. People are already being praised for being more intelligent, more agile, more fit, more beautiful. If anything the fruition of such research would level the playing field for the next generation.
Some of the objections have been that if this type of research is pursued to its conclusion it would redefine what it meant to be human. That it could actually change the human genome as a whole.
In what world is this a bad thing? Its not like we can make it anymore screwed up than it already is. I mean you have things like genetic conditions, hereditary retardation and people are having kittens because... what? They might feel alittle obsolete if the next generation has afew advantages denied to them? But isn't providing those advantages the very basis of our society?
Progress isn't made by the people who let their insecurities and prejudices run them.
It is not to men like Lord Winston we owe our ascension beyond the lowly origins of our species. It is intellect tempered by prudence that should define the line we draw, not cowardice.

[Darth]

and people are having kittens

Not yet they aren't. But soon...

Edit: I read the article, mitochondrial DNA? Meh. Wake me up when they start giving kids wings, or are half cat.

[Haydn2]

Agreed i thinks its great news .
This in particular was to fix a genetic reproductive problem and i actually think it was far more moral to do this , rather then just pass the problem down to your children.
But i'd like to see it go much further.
I can't imagine what ethical (non -religious) argument you could have against creating fitter, healthier , more intelligent and potentially even more moral individual . If we have the power to change our genetics fo the better , how can this not be a good thing ?
And i personally would be quite happy if my own origins were from a GM background . It might perhaps give the human race the power to plot its own destiny , rather the blind downward spiral that i fear we might be in (dysgenically) .

[Napoléon]

I can't imagine what ethical (non -religious) argument you could have against creating fitter, healthier , more intelligent and potentially even more moral individual . If we have the power to change our genetics fo the better , how can this not be a good thing ?

Actually I think there is a moral argument people can go down, and I completely get it. At the end of the day we are creating life with the attributes we want, playing god as it were.

Altering the human germline - in effect tinkering with the very make-up of our species - is a technique shunned by the vast majority of the world's scientists.

It's not shunned by scientists for no reason you know.


I'm not strictly against this kind of experimentation myself, but the question of whether it is ethical is certainly one which needs to be talked about and agreed upon.

[Haydn2]

Actually I think there is a moral argument people can go down, and I completely get it. At the end of the day we are creating life with the attributes we want, playing god as it were.

Thats just it . What moral argument do you completley get? It might seem alien , but i don't see what morality has to do with it? Is it wrong to change genes that we know will negatively effect that individuals life ?

[Napoléon]

Is it wrong to change genes that we know will negatively effect that individuals life ?

You're not looking at the other side of the coin.

Is it right to mess with the genetics of an individual, and tamper with them to create a new human being, one that is fundamentally different to the one which it would have been prior to the tampering?

A lot of people think not.

[IATIA]

Eugenics anyone? Another ploy for the rich and powerful to determine the destiny of the masses.

I do find it fascinating however.

[Haydn2]

You're not looking at the other side of the coin.

Is it right to mess with the genetics of an individual, and tamper with them to create a new human being, one that is fundamentally different to the one which it would have been prior to the tampering?

A lot of people think not.

No i do see 'that side of the coin' , or opinion you really mean. I just havn't heard a moral reason to back it up yet.

You are asking is it right to tamper - i say yes if it benefits the idividual in any way ( be that curing a genetic problem , or increasing an attribute , like intelligence).

Now i ask you - is it wrong to 'modify' the genetics of an indivdual and tamper with them to create a new human being, one that is fundamentally different to the one which it would have been prior to the tampering?

And im sure alot of people think not , i want to hear..... why?

Eugenics anyone? Another ploy for the rich and powerful to determine the destiny of the masses.

I do find it fascinating however.

Could you elaborate?

[IATIA]

Could you elaborate?

Yes, I could.



Oh... You meant WOULD.

Allegedly, we have mapped the human genome. With the ability to modify the DNA, we can eliminate genetic defects, but also decide what traits we desire in a particular subject.

It would be possible to create a 'happy' slave race for the select few in power. Genetic alterations could be delivered via viruses through food and water.

The ultimate variations and control would be devastating to the 'peasants'.

[Ben Davis]

Typical Daily Fail fearmongering:

30 healthy babies were born after a series of experiments

...makes it sound like scientists were experimenting on babies.

...a technique shunned by the vast majority of the world's scientists... Geneticists fear that one day this method could be used to create new races of humans... It is a further and very worrying step down the wrong road for humanity.

...all negative language, designed to provoke a particular response.

Nowhere in the article does it try to humanise the women who needed this treatment in order to be able to conceive; like they're doing something wrong by even needing the treatment. Nowhere in the article does it try to humanise the babies; new, living, breathing people who now have lives to live thanks to this treatment. Instead the article falls prey to it's own accusation of treating people like objects.

The success of these treatments mean that certain women can now have babies when they previously couldn't and that's all. The potential for the sci-fi adjustments which the article intimates are not the results of this research but rather the studies into understanding which components of our DNA describe which embryonic development-functions. To suggest otherwise is disingenuous in the extreme and obvious fearmongering.

The Fail regularly opposes improvements which help/support disadvantaged and/or vulnerable groups and the application of a little empathy blows the meaning of this article right open. This type of reporting just makes me angry!