While there have been debates over this technology, there are no laws applied directly to regulation of designer babies. I believe that while in some ethical issues, such as war and trophy hunting,the result can partially justify the mean, a genetically modified baby is definitely not ethical. The emergence of such technology is the reflection of one of the seven sins of human: greed. Although it is claimed that the technology is meant to eliminate genetical diseases, it is inevitable to evolve toward the stage of actually designing specific features - appearance, physical strength, and intelligence. Not to mention the mutation occurs potentially during the process, there are two serious ethical consequence to this issue. On one hand, parents' expectation for offspring becomes tangible. The young generation is already more or less living under the pressure of expectation, and the advancement of GM embryos will only bring the pressure to an upper level - altering children as a whole before they possess consciousness. On the other hand, this technology will profoundly widen the gap between the rich and the poor, for it is money and time consuming. Only the upper class will have the "privilege" to designer their babies while ordinary citizens cannot afford such operation. This reminds me of the movie "Gattaca", which depicts a fictional society where people are socially classified by genes - genetically modified people have the access to professional employments while traditionally born humans can only work menial labor.
To be a philosopher is not merely to have subtle thoughts, nor even to found a school…it is to solve some of the problems of life, not only theoretically, but practically. – Henry David Thoreau
Saturday, October 24, 2015
What Designer Babies Indicate
"Designer Babies" is a term refer to genetic engineering of the embryo. At its current state, embryo undergoes the process of genetic screening for gender and flawed genes that lead to birth defects and chronic diseases, and then decisions are made whether the embryo should be planted into the womb or discarded.
While there have been debates over this technology, there are no laws applied directly to regulation of designer babies. I believe that while in some ethical issues, such as war and trophy hunting,the result can partially justify the mean, a genetically modified baby is definitely not ethical. The emergence of such technology is the reflection of one of the seven sins of human: greed. Although it is claimed that the technology is meant to eliminate genetical diseases, it is inevitable to evolve toward the stage of actually designing specific features - appearance, physical strength, and intelligence. Not to mention the mutation occurs potentially during the process, there are two serious ethical consequence to this issue. On one hand, parents' expectation for offspring becomes tangible. The young generation is already more or less living under the pressure of expectation, and the advancement of GM embryos will only bring the pressure to an upper level - altering children as a whole before they possess consciousness. On the other hand, this technology will profoundly widen the gap between the rich and the poor, for it is money and time consuming. Only the upper class will have the "privilege" to designer their babies while ordinary citizens cannot afford such operation. This reminds me of the movie "Gattaca", which depicts a fictional society where people are socially classified by genes - genetically modified people have the access to professional employments while traditionally born humans can only work menial labor.
While there have been debates over this technology, there are no laws applied directly to regulation of designer babies. I believe that while in some ethical issues, such as war and trophy hunting,the result can partially justify the mean, a genetically modified baby is definitely not ethical. The emergence of such technology is the reflection of one of the seven sins of human: greed. Although it is claimed that the technology is meant to eliminate genetical diseases, it is inevitable to evolve toward the stage of actually designing specific features - appearance, physical strength, and intelligence. Not to mention the mutation occurs potentially during the process, there are two serious ethical consequence to this issue. On one hand, parents' expectation for offspring becomes tangible. The young generation is already more or less living under the pressure of expectation, and the advancement of GM embryos will only bring the pressure to an upper level - altering children as a whole before they possess consciousness. On the other hand, this technology will profoundly widen the gap between the rich and the poor, for it is money and time consuming. Only the upper class will have the "privilege" to designer their babies while ordinary citizens cannot afford such operation. This reminds me of the movie "Gattaca", which depicts a fictional society where people are socially classified by genes - genetically modified people have the access to professional employments while traditionally born humans can only work menial labor.
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I like how you pointed out that their is not equal access to this technology because of one's financial status as well as reference the pressure a child would feel under the parents' expectations for the "perfect" child. I myself do not believe in designer babies because I think it is unethical the play "God's" role in life. I also like how you allude to "Gattaca" because tampering with a population's genetic make up could cause those who are genetically modified to think they are superior like the movie illustrated.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with your stance. I really like how you brought up the point about an imminent social divide if "designing" babies continues, because it has a lot of truth to it. How could this possibly be considered ethically okay if it will give some an innate advantage? Furthermore, it really got me thinking about how if every rich person can be designed perfectly, there will not only be a monetary gap between classes, but a physical one as well. It's sad to think that the power of the rich will probably eventually result in a world where this type of practice exists.
ReplyDeleteCheryl, designer babies are definitely an ethical time bomb waiting to explode. And with the exponential growth of genetic engineering these breakthroughs are likely to arrive sooner than the body politic might expect. It seems that more and more data is mounting that underscores the gulf between the rich and poor, and with designer babies on the horizon, it appears this gulf might develop into an ocean. What might be the consequences then?
ReplyDeleteI like how you included in your post the problem that we will face in the future with the pressure of expectation. I completely agree that with these designer babies, people are going to expect more "perfect" human beings, when in reality no such thing exists. I find this point of view really important in this issue and I think it is an ethical issue that must be confronted now before it turns into something bigger for the generations to come.
ReplyDeleteAlthough the designer babies give people a perfect baby, people born with their won talent and potential which waits themselves to discoveries. If every babies are born perfectly, the life is without the meaning. Also everyone will take a role in the society depended on their ability and interested. If everyone are born the same, then everyone are twins with the some ability, which the society role will be chaotic.
ReplyDeleteI like your idea about designer babies widening gap between the rich and the poor since that's the point I've never thought about, and it is very convincing and reasonable. Such point of view reminds me again of the book Brave New World, in which most babies are delicately designed by their parents, however, merely in physical way. The absolute unification among large amount of individuals produces a "privileges class"in the society, a social circle which only "perfect" human beings belong to. And for others who do not fit into that circle and own physical defects, they endure the disdains and mistreatments. Designer babies do create imbalance relations among people, which are hard to avoid if the number of such type of babies continues to grow larger.
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