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I suppose people groups who have had hundreds of years of experience of being oppressed with excuses from the Bible, Social Darwinism or the like might care. A
by jbattle 14y ago
I suppose people groups who have had hundreds of years of experience of being oppressed with excuses from the Bible, Social Darwinism or the like might care.
As a species we have considerably more experience with racial/ethnic judgement leading to suffering than leading to something beneficial.
Not to say that it's impossible, but it strikes me as very reasonable for us to argue very thoroughly about the potential implications of this kind of research. I hope we can find a way to improve life for all people. When vaccines first became available there were probably jerks like me moaning about imagined terrible consequences. But that doesn't mean every change made possible by science would necessarily be as equally beneficial.
If we find out that people from East Whateveria have a mean IQ 25 lower than the global target, does that mean we have a right or obligation to "fix" them? What if they don't want to be fixed? I'll attempt stop short of pulling a Godwin, but note that this sort of 'fix defective populations for the benefit of the whole human populations' has a mixed record.
- guylhem 14y agoPeople are free to do what they want. No moral obligation - just freedom. But if by any chance I found that I had this same mutation and could take advantage of their fix, I would be interested. If you found out say your son had the same mutation, wouldn't you be interested as well? Please note we are not taking about East Whateveria or how West Whateveria might gloat about not having this mutation. We are just talking about how oneday we might have the freedom to take such a decision for ourselves. Because it's all about freedom, and unfortunately without having the scientific know-how it's pointless to speculate about what we might do. This is why I support such initiatives- it will offer more possibilities, possibilities that we can only dream about now.
- jbattle 14y ago> People are free to do what they want. No moral obligation - just freedom. You assume that, I don't. At least not for enormous numbers of humans past and present.
- icelancer 14y agoThe fact that science has scared off a sufficient amount of idiots in the past doesn't make it a bad thing.
- kanzure 14y ago> We are just talking about how oneday we might have the freedom to take such a decision for ourselves. Unfortunately, watchdog groups like to argue that having that option is detrimental. They usually conflate it with claims of "ethnic eugenics". Btw, to a large extent today you already have the ability to make genetic modifications before insemination or embryo implantation. Screening too..
- icelancer 14y agoAllowing ourselves to be ruled by the fear of objective facts is the ultimate level of stupidity.