It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time, but Now I Don’t Know
I recently watched a two-hour special called: “The Real Superhumans and the Quest for the Future Fantastic“.
From the site:
‘No species has had the ability to direct its own evolutionary course - until now. Have we reached the point where new technologies have put the genetic engineering process into our own hands? The real-life superheroes in this special are harbingers of the type of advanced humans we could become in the not-so-distant future - by examining the unique gifts they possess today, what can we learn about what humanity will be like tomorrow? “The Real Superhumans and the Quest for the Future Fantastic” is about true superheroes, genetic engineering and the future of human evolution. See how the rules of evolution are on the brink of fundamental change, how it will happen, and - ultimately - how it provokes the question of what it means to be human.’
For more information on the ‘real-life superheros’, visit their profile page HERE.
In addition to exploring the capabilities of these special individuals, the show also focused on what their “powers” could mean for the rest for us. Are these abilities hardwired in their DNA and if so, is there a way to pinpoint the gene and possibly engineer future generations to possess these qualities?
I am torn on the possibility of human genetic engineering [edit]. On the one hand, it would be cool to see humankind take the next step forward in evolution. Maybe we CAN be more than what we are. I imagine a world where no one is ordinary, where the word “normal” has been redefined. How awesome would it be for humans to run faster than previously thought possible, possess superhuman intellect, or have cat-like night vision?
Photo by Tom_92
On the other hand, it just doesn’t seem right. Is man overstepping nature’s boundaries? Can a species be trusted with control of its destiny? The very idea of humans possessing the power to “design” future generations screams of hubris.
And just who would this technology be available to? The Rich? The Poor? How would this affect society? Would governments use it to “breed” the very super soldiers we read about in fantasy novels? Are we irrevocably moving toward a Gattaca-like society?
We are attempting to control a very delicate process: the creation and shaping of life.
Are we ready for this? Should we even do this? What do you think?
*****
THING OF THE DAY:
I think this is only fitting…
25 Responses for "It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time, but Now I Don’t Know"
I do not believe medical science is ready to engineer dna in a daily basis because even Artificial insemination seem like a trial thing with most drs. Many sources and time and money are invested on something that seems more simple that messing with dna.
I would say work first on that and btw on birth control that will not give women cancer or other things and then move on modifying the whole human race.
My 99 cents of wisdom.
Ah! and some nice pms drugs will be grand too.
LOL
The Gattaca world is already beginning to emerge and is positively frightening, the idea of some dim wit taking a look at my DNA and deciding my future without any consideration for my intelligence or the self motivation I have to overcome my weaknesses reminds me of the medieval ages where a cast system of proper blood was instituted. Think what would have happend to Stephen Hawking in a Gattaca world.
On the other hand, the Singularity is the event I pin my hopes on for the future of our species. I believe the Singularity will allow us to finally overcome our primitive instincts that prevent us from seeing all people as worthy of being part of our society, the sheer stupidity of segregation or those outdated beliefs that women are less equal, these are the sorts of things that I think demonstrate humanity is not that far removed from the apes. The future doesn’t need to be like this, here’s a link that explains what the Singularity is http://www.singinst.org/overview/whatisthesingularity
Shelly- Lots of time and money has already been spent on this kind of research. So I guess whether we’re ready for something like this or not, once someone somewhere figures it out, it looks like this is the course humankind will travel down. LOL and I agree, a cure for cancer and pills that prevent PMS would be nice.
Carl- I agree the “Gattaca” world IS scary, but while the idea behind the Singularity excites me I feel like it would somehow mean the end of humanity as we know it.
Creating a “greater-than-human” (a wiki-phrase)intelligence with the capability of improving itself is fantastic and so is the possibility of human brains one day being able to interface with computers. This would increase human knowledge and also the rate at which we learn.
I think you made some great points in describing some of the things Singularity can “fix”, but it seems like we’d only be slowly evolving into a type of biological computer. I mean, is that still human?
Honestly, it sounds we’d almost be ‘The Borg’.
I don’t think that anything should be altered or missed with, but hey who am I? But if they wanted to give me a superpower i want to be able to read minds! i want to know if someone is getting ready to kill me or not!
No seriously, They need to leave well enough alone! unless it is healing cancer, hiv/aids, MS, diseases and all.. LEAVE IT BE!!!!
I think the brilliant minds behind these improvements should focus on fixing our current problems and ailments rather than redirecting the natural evolutionary course.
I see it like this: if the plumbing keeps breaking down, should we leave it be and work on making leak-proof roofs instead? (I think I’ve finally lost it with that analogy - please excuse me. I’ve been studying stupers for too long).
Single In the City- I am more or less inclined to agree with you. I have my doubts about mankind using this kind of technology for the greater good of humanity. Sure, it sounds nice on the outside…
Keli- Yeah, what if the plan is to create “perfect beings” for the future and no longer worry about saving the current generation? That way, it gives the “strongest” a chance to reproduce and ‘fix’ all that’s wrong with us now. Now THAT is scary.
Hi Jillian!
DNA and genome theory - its just the start of what we believe is a slippery slope….
Carl in Spain is on the nail here and thanks for raising this post….
The borg, perfect beings is a scary thought - it’s our imperfections that make us loveable, or at least that’s our excuse!
Of course man is overstepping everything. They play God when in reality they don’t really have the knowledge or foresight to see future problems.
Gattaca is one of my favorite movies. I hope life doesn’t get to that point, in fact, I’m sure it won’t.
“playing god” is trivial. We’ve been doing it for generations. Without selective breeding, all dogs would still be wolves.
That banana you’re eating? Nothing like banana’s that were found in nature.
The only difference is our moral inclination towards boundaries of suffering, that is, we find it unacceptable to have thousands of failures before one success, when dealing with the human species.
Let me ask you this: Is it criminal to have a few hundred people suffer and die with botched genetic experiments to perfect a “genetic vaccine” so that billions will never get cancer?
Like our favorite vulcan said: “the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few”
We are nothing more than animals, albeit with a slightly larger brain and opposable thumbs. We’re malleable, and changeable, and we are now discovering the tools to do just that.
FULL STEAM AHEAD! Says I. Who knows what changes may come? Perhaps we can breed the instinct for bigotry, racism and intolerance. Perhaps we can unlock more potential from our brain, allowing us to develop ways to further explore the universe. I say YES!
I’m think’n not a good idea…human beings play’n God?!? Haven’t we screwed things up enough!
I was sitting on the fence until I read Mike’s comment. He made some valid points. And I confess to having been artificially inseminated… so where does that leave me?
This is a really good post Jillian.. a lot of food for thought.
This just makes me envision flying babies. It is bad enough when they learn to crawl. Very disturbing.
I say go for it…we should not stop until ALL babies are flying.
Show me flying babies damnit!!!
I wonder if they can put together a redneck..:)))))
They have to tinker with everything. If they didn’t tinker, they’d never find anything out, a cure, or DNA or anything.So, I say, let them have their fun
GO! Smell the Flowers!- LOL… that IS true!
Natural Woman- I’m inclined to agree! I almost feel like we’re cavemen playing with a lighter, we’re not even supposed to have it and it’s fun to play with until someone gets burned.
Mike Mike you make good points, but it’s easy to sacrifice a few to save millions when you’re not the one that has to die. And even if people “volunteered”, I can’t imagine a perfectly healthy individual jumping at the chance. But stranger things have happened…
But like I said, I AM excited about the prospects that genetic engineering offer, but it all makes me a bit uncomfortable.
Deborah- LOL… apparently not enough to stop!
Dawn- Thanks, Dawn. I think artificial insemination is a good thing for many reasons. I just fear a future where people can pick and choose genes with the intent of “creating” what some would call a “better” human. I still think artificial insemination falls on the human side of things. You picked the father, and I think that’s something that happens anyway in traditional methods (i.e. who you date, who you marry, etc.). It’s the tampering with genetic code and eliminating the human factor altogether that nags at me. I honestly feel like we are crossing some kind of line, but at the same time I’m curious just like they are. The posts just had some questions I’d like answered. I’m torn on the subject as a whole.
Of course people had doubts about the airplane, but look at us now!
Beeker- Eww and think of the heavy duty umbrellas we’d need. Gross.
Anonymous- LOL. OK.
Robert- Haha, nothing is as good as the original!
Frank- You were commenting the same time I was! You have a point though, a lot of big discoveries in Science were made through trial-and-error.
I am all for finding new cures and medical research and breaking boundaries….but….stuff like this kinda freaks me out.
Gah so many comments already. I was trying to comment yesterday but whatever was going on with Blogger prevented me from doing so.
I’m torn on this too - because on one hand I want to be just like Peter Petrelli, but there’s no guarantee that I’m not going to end up being evil like Sylar. You know what I mean?
No, in all honesty… it’s still playing god no matter how you look at it. We really should learn when to leave well enough alone!
Meleah Rebeccah- Yeah, same here. It’s certainly exciting though! I just wish I knew all the ramifications of something like this, I’d feel much better about it.
Fragileheart- Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I actually thought about “Heroes” as I watched the special. I mean, who wouldn’t want to be a superhuman? Haha, I’d love to invincible or fly… awesome. I hope one day I can come to a firm stand on this. I do think it’s playing God, but at the same we wouldn’t have a lot of the things we do today if we didn’t take chances and try to answer the question of “What if?”
Whoa! Big questions. That made my head hurt!
There’s a lot of good and bad in this kind of stuff. The good of course, is that we might be able to help thousands if not millions of human beings who suffer from disease and premature death…the bad is that people could and probably will use this kind of technology the wrong way. Our only saving grace, IMHO, is that DNA is an extremely complicated code. Even though we’ve mapped it, it doesn’t mean we know what the hell all those genes do…it could take us thousands more years to figure that out, if we ever do, and that may be a good thing.
O … M … G. I knew I had a reason to fear Scallopman!
Jillian, you ask would we still be biologically human if we move toward a future where we modify ourselves, being flippant, I don’t see that being human is so great. A very small percentage of the population is enlightened and understands that we are basically not much better than animals and need to keep working at understanding each other, whilst the majority are products of their bigoted upbringing and have no interest in getting to know others.
I believe that for humanity to survive long term we need to evolve, at the very least our civilization needs to evolve, and that means people need greater powers of learning and understanding, again something only a small percentage seem to intuitively have. Altering humans to give them better abilities may mean they become less human but that is precisely the point; we want to evolve as a species.
You know Jillian, I’m a big huge superhero fan and I’m always telling my wife how I think I’ve got super human powers that hasn’t manifested itself yet and wife is always telling me to get my head checked … LOL!
Random Chick- Yeah, part of my problem is how this kind of thing can and will be used, but I definitely like the possible good.
.45- LoL.
Carl- I am all for working toward understanding one another, and I am also all for possessing a greater power of understanding myself. However I cannot at this time reconcile my feelings of discomfort when it comes to the possibility of altering genes.
And I believe to get society where you want it to be is something that has to happen on its own. I don’t believe changing humans through Science is necessarily going to get us there. There will still be socioeconomic strata and Religious thought and other “divisive” factors, unless we are “programmed” to believe differently and that’s another thing entirely.
I am actually not disagreeing with you as far the good something like this can do for the Human race, but I am voicing some apprehension.
Nick- Hey, maybe you do have powers!
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