Would you genetically tweak your unborn child?

[OS]

Like if you had a family history of being short, tweaking the genes of your child to produce more growth hormone. Or if family history generally points towards mediocre intelligence, give your kid a tweaked brain. Not necessarily reparing defects (that's another situation), but giving your children qualities that are generally considered desirable by society at large such as intelligence and beauty. Why or why not.

 

[B00ne]

I sure hope this will never be possible but unfortunately i think it will happen. Anyway if it happens i still hope that such thing will be procecuted like really bad crimes. My reason: it would be against freedom, human rights, against democracy itself besides being unethical. Rich ppl breed a masterrace, all humans being equal a thing of the past....
just disgusting.
The rich would cement thair power forever, while the poor would be servants by birth and eventually slaves. No thanx i think the prospect of genetically engineering the kids would after surviving the cold war bring the next apocalypse.

 

[Helpless]

Yes, I would...tall people, on average, tend to make more money than short people

 

[GasX]

I would select sex in order to try to eliminate estrogen poisoning caused by too many X chromosomes.

 

[Locutus of Board]

Yes, yes and yes.

Why wouldn't I want to avoid any possible hardships for my children if it is possible for me to do so?

 

[Elledan]

"Don't distrust tools. Distrust the people who use them."

 

[OS]

<< &quot;Don't distrust tools. Distrust the people who use them.&quot; >>



Although that sounds good, in application there are some tools that are so damn powerful that no human group can truly be trusted with the technology. I'd have to say nuclear technology is probably one of them. So for this case, it's more a question of if this technology also fits into the forementioned group.

 

[StormRider]

Like if you had a family history of being short

I would have liked it if I were tweaked to be bigger somewhere if you catch my drift.

 

[StormRider]

Yes, I would...tall people, on average, tend to make more money than short people

The only problem is that people would then all be 6 feet tall and after awhile 6 feet tall would be considered short and then everybody would tweak themselves to be 6 feet 2 inches. But after awhile that would be considered short and the cycle continues.

The only way to prevent that is to mandate everybody to be exactly the same as each other. Then we would all be clones and wouldn't feel inferior to anyone else. But then the environment changes and our species dies out because we lack the genetic variability to adapt to changing environments. The end.

 

[Elledan]

<<

<< &quot;Don't distrust tools. Distrust the people who use them.&quot; >>



Although that sounds good, in application there are some tools that are so damn powerful that no human group can truly be trusted with the technology. I'd have to say nuclear technology is probably one of them. So for this case, it's more a question of if this technology also fits into the forementioned group. >>


I'd say that both nuclear technology and genetical engineering should be kept away from (most) Humans. Their greed and narrow-mindedness would cause serious problems, as shown before in history.
Since we can't objectively judge who should have access to those more advanced technologies, we shouldn't use them at all.

Alas, this is impossible. Since most of us Humans are both curious and corrupted, greedy beings, we'll use those tools, but fail to use them correctly.

The solution? Get rid of those characteristics of Humans (greed, corruption, irresponsibility etc.).
How? Self-control and a feeling of responsibility can be achieved by the right upbringing and (if necessary) corrections during and after this time. Most important thing would be to make every person gain full control over his or her emotions and feelings.

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

For the love of God and all that is good, I hope this never ever ever happens!

Why do people think they know what is best?

<Why wouldn't I want to avoid any possible hardships for my children if it is possible for me to do so?>
These 'hardships' are what shape us a individuals. There is so much to learn from them...ie being short, and I know from personal experience. I'm 29 and only 4'10&quot;. After a lifetime of being made fun of you learn how much it can hurt, you also learn to deal with it and sometime make fun of yourself, anyway you are less likely to make fun of someone else for their own personal hardship. I'm not saying I never make fun of people, I think we are all guilty of that it's human nature, but I always feel guilty or ashamed after the fact. IMHO

BOOne you make a very good point:
it would be against freedom, human rights, against democracy itself besides being unethical. Rich ppl breed a masterrace, all humans being equal a thing of the past....The rich would cement thair power forever, while the poor would be servants by birth and eventually slaves. No thanx i think the prospect of genetically engineering the kids would after surviving the cold war bring the next apocalypse.

 

[Helpless]

Not really, Storm...most people, like the ethics and moral freaks who like to tell us what is right/wrong, would not opt for the &quot;tweak.&quot;

 

[tontod]

I'm against it except for tweaking that would cure genetic disorders(diseases).

 

[huanaku]

There is a movie that is based on manipulating genes to get &quot;the best&quot; out of the parents. It's called Gattaca, interesting movie.

 

[Bateluer]

<< &quot;Don't distrust tools. Distrust the people who use them.&quot; >>



Good quote.

As to the original question, absolutely not. Only if there was a genetic disease that could be corrected, such as Werners Disease.

 

[mk52]

I wouldnt do any drastic changes, but I would slightly enhance certain things, my kid would have been disadvantaged in. And who says all this genetical engineering has to do with looks, if I can give my son a stronger immune system or make him immune to certain deseases by birth I sure would do that.

Anyhow some people should stop beeing so ignorant, technology including genetical engineering is unstoppable. Its simply a matter of time. The human gnome project just got completed and the next 10-20 years will bring lots of scientific and medical advances.
I mean do you honestly think once they now how to cure certain defencts on unborn babies, no one will use it?
Beeing realistic we live in a overly capitalistic world and if you have money you can nearly get anything you want.

-MeliK

 

[Wedesdo]

yes, in a milisecond. and it won't be illegal because too many rich - read politicians - will do the same thing to their own children, so they won't be embarassed when their 19 year old daughter gets drunk

btw, it would be even better if we could genetically engineer our selfs to be able to produce alcohol on demand, etc...

 

[TripleJ]

Why bother? With my genes, it'd be perfect anyway!

 

[AppleTalking]

Absolutely not. There should be no genetic engineering of unborn children. Humans do not have the knowledge nor the experience to be &quot;playing God&quot; with people's lives.

Some people have said that genetic engineering should only be used to prevent certain genetic defects and diseases. But then where do you draw the line? One person might think that legitimate diseases (e.g. down syndrome) should be considered a defect, while another person might think that being short, having green eyes, or having blonde hair should be considered a defect. The fact of the matter is that there is no clear-cut definition of what should be changed via genetic engineering and what shouldn't be.

There is a reason that we are created the way we are. We may not know that reason, but that doesn't mean that it doesn't exist. We don't know what will happen if we start tampering with people's genes. Eliminating some &quot;genetic defects&quot; might alter the gene pool in such a way that humanity would eventually bring about its own destruction. Humans have existed quite nicely for thousands of years without changing their own genes. Who's to say that things will be any better if we start now?

Nick

 

[Elledan]

We could transfer the minds of our unborn children to an artificial (cybernetic) body. That way we don't risk causing our destruction if changes in the environment take place.

But maybe it's time we consider this question: Would it be a bad thing if the Human species would become extinct?

 

[mk52]

<< Absolutely not. There should be no genetic engineering of unborn children. Humans do not have the knowledge nor the experience to be &quot;playing God&quot; with people's lives. >>



maybe we dont have the knowledge today but definitely in 10-20 years.
20 years before the first heart transplant people were also thinking its impossible and totally out of the question to take a heart out of a human being and put it into another one. Today heart transplants happen all the time and its nothing unusual. Same will happen with genetical engineering, once we know what every single gene does, doctors will use this information to cure and even to alter physical characteristics. Hey they might even become the plastical surgeon's of the future.



<< There is a reason that we are created the way we are. We may not know that reason, but that doesn't mean that it doesn't exist. We don't know what will happen if we start tampering with people's genes. Eliminating some &quot;genetic defects&quot; might alter the gene pool in such a way that humanity would eventually bring about its own destruction. Humans have existed quite nicely for thousands of years without changing their own genes. Who's to say that things will be any better if we start now? >>



we werent created the way we are, we evolved into what we are over thousands of years, and this is simply the next step.

-MeliK

 

[Elledan]

Genetical engineering, if used rightly, is just an acceleration of the evolutionary process.

 

[StormRider]

Hey they might even become the plastical surgeon's of the future.

And we will have the equivalent of the genetic &quot;Mickael Jacksons&quot; of the future -- a race of people who continuingly tweak the genetic makeup of their offsprings to produce a race truly odd looking to others.

 

[mk52]

hey half of the people in beverly hills get new body parts as birthday presents.

 

[Doboji]

There are only certain things I would be willing to adjust....

Intelligence... absolutely... I would certainly augment intelligence as much as possible...

Physical... I would adjust things like obesity genes... and extreme shortness or tallness... I.e. not under 5'7&quot; and not over 6'6&quot; for a guy... or 5'0&quot; or 6'0&quot; for a girl...

other than that... let mothernature do her magic...

however I think all of the above should be illegal to adjust... the only adjustments should be those that correct defects.

-Max