Tuesday, 11 December 2018

Day 251: Ethics

Dinner Menu:

  • Risotto aux fruits de mer
  • Fromages

As part of a class project Theo developed a (short) questionnaire on the ethics of genetic manipulation (Français  American).  The last question is about how much genetic modification of your child you would be prepared to do on the assumption that it is scientifically possible.  You would expect most people's natural reaction to be to agree to eliminating  major diseases or mental deficiencies but then you get into more difficult issues (Physical characteristics, Sex, Height, Colouring, Obesity, Intelligence, Creativity, Speed, Breast size, etc).  My first inclination would be to say no we shouldn't mess with these characteristics but then again why not?  Where do you draw the line?  If you can eliminate asthma or myopia why wouldn't you? And if you agree to those why not make sure your son is at least 1M80 or your daughter is under 70Kg?  And why not choose an IQ of 110 rather than 90 (if you can) ? It seems to me that human nature is to modify and adapt our environment and to use all the tools at our disposal. I find it very difficult to define lines that should not be crossed.

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