11-11-2012, 06:09 PM
(This post was last modified: 11-11-2012, 06:19 PM by FireIceTalon.)
I'm sorry man, I cannot get on board with this. The risk factors, both socially and scientifically are way too great, no matter how noble the intentions may be.
There is no guarantee this would ever be available for anyone but the wealthy, and even if it came to be, the damage could already be done by the time it becomes available for the rest of society. A genetic elite is about the last thing we need. And assuming regular folks eventually have access to it, this can be misused by them as well - many workers also have very reactionary beliefs and attitudes. In some countries it is been deliberately used to make more male children than female - so people are already misusing it. Aside from that, I consider it an objectification of children: it essentially turns them into commodities. It's bad enough that we become commodities when we enter the work force in a capitalist society, now we are going to objectify them instantly instead. It is also a sign of conditional love by the parents. "I want my child to be male, have long blonde hair, and blue eyes" - whenever I hear people say stuff like this, first thing that goes through my mind is "are you going to love them any less if they don't?" I would rather be born ugly but know my parents love me for who I am, or be aborted altogether, than have them systematically handpick everything about me in some catalog; as they see fit or desirable and love me for that, and that only. Right off the bat they are not even giving me a chance to be my natural self.
And again, what about the genetic risks? Some parents may just want something as simple as their child having the same eye color as they do, but changing any gene has potential consequences that are unpredictable, and once done, likely unchangeable.
I have to agree to disagree on this one.
There is no guarantee this would ever be available for anyone but the wealthy, and even if it came to be, the damage could already be done by the time it becomes available for the rest of society. A genetic elite is about the last thing we need. And assuming regular folks eventually have access to it, this can be misused by them as well - many workers also have very reactionary beliefs and attitudes. In some countries it is been deliberately used to make more male children than female - so people are already misusing it. Aside from that, I consider it an objectification of children: it essentially turns them into commodities. It's bad enough that we become commodities when we enter the work force in a capitalist society, now we are going to objectify them instantly instead. It is also a sign of conditional love by the parents. "I want my child to be male, have long blonde hair, and blue eyes" - whenever I hear people say stuff like this, first thing that goes through my mind is "are you going to love them any less if they don't?" I would rather be born ugly but know my parents love me for who I am, or be aborted altogether, than have them systematically handpick everything about me in some catalog; as they see fit or desirable and love me for that, and that only. Right off the bat they are not even giving me a chance to be my natural self.
And again, what about the genetic risks? Some parents may just want something as simple as their child having the same eye color as they do, but changing any gene has potential consequences that are unpredictable, and once done, likely unchangeable.
I have to agree to disagree on this one.
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"Your very ideas are but the outgrowth of conditions of your bourgeois production and bourgeois property, just as your jurisprudence is but the will of your class, made into law for all, a will whose essential character and direction are determined by the economic conditions of the existence of your class." - Marx (addressing the bourgeois)
"Your very ideas are but the outgrowth of conditions of your bourgeois production and bourgeois property, just as your jurisprudence is but the will of your class, made into law for all, a will whose essential character and direction are determined by the economic conditions of the existence of your class." - Marx (addressing the bourgeois)