DNA are the building blocks of life. Depending on how the DNA is arranged and how much there is, it can result in a human, chimpanzee, dog, cat, pig, mouse, banana, potato, you name it. It isn’t too farfetched to say that DNA is like the programming code of a living being.
However, DNA isn’t perfect. The world is littered with examples of plants, animals and humans, who suffer from various genetic disorders. Some are harmless, yet others are quite debilitating, and the cause for these disorders is bad genes.
Thankfully we have come to a point in life where we can treat, if not cure, some of these diseases and disorders. Yes, modern medical technology truly is wonderful; it’s even come to the point where we can edit our own genes.
Now of course, with this technology has come a lot of controversy, with some saying that we shouldn’t play God and that it might get rid of diversity and individualism if we just keep “editing” our children.
On the other hand, through gene editing we can also make stronger children and eradicate some of the gene disorders and diseases I was talking about earlier.
So here’s my question: if you were given the ability to genetically change all of humanity, what would you change to make them better?
Personally, I wouldn’t change anything. Now hold on, before you start bashing me, just hear me out. We’re not perfect as we are, not at all. But without our flaws we wouldn’t be able to better ourselves. Now I’m by no means condemning gene technology, in fact if you can stop your baby from developing a seriously debilitating genetic disorders like Xeroderma pigmentosum, Crohn’s disease, TSC, SMA and Polycystic kidney disease, then go for it. What I am against is going overboard and trying to maybe make us immune to all genetic disorders. We’re not broken, we just need maintenance, but trying to “upgrade” us is just going to lead to a slew of other problems down the line. For example, we may develop a society where people who don’t have the best genes are seen as inferior human beings compared to others, like the movie Gattaca.
And putting aside social issues, there is also the chance that by trying to “cure” some genetic disorders, we start creating an environment for worse genetic diseases, similar to how we have some antibiotic resistant bacteria.
We won’t ever be able to completely get rid of genetic disorders, so trying to make it so that we can never fall sick just won’t work. Besides, in a twisted sort of way, having genetic disorders has been helpful, in the sense that we were so driven to get rid of them we actively pursued ways to do it, and by doing so we were able to discover things about the human body and genetics that we were never aware of. I know very well that this isn’t the best argument to make and that many people have suffered and are suffering because of bad genetics, which is why we need to treat them and find cures for them. All I’m saying is we have to know where we draw the line.
Also, I’m not against treatment and curing but I don’t think we should try creating the sci-fi like superior humans either; We’re pretty good as we are without all the upgrades, let’s just work on the maintenance.
Well that’s it for this post. I hope you like it and I hope you have a good day ahead.
Alternative Yoga 