Genetic Engineering

[arfink]

[quote name='GregorMendel' timestamp='1326992627' post='2371478']
While you are correct to question the ethical nature of such technology, gene therapy and genetic engineering are very promising fields which have drastically affected our world in very subtle ways (ie. nearly 90% of soybeans, cotton and corn grown in the US are genetically modified). The ethical issues surrounding genetic engineering as it relates to humans have evolved much faster than the capabilities of the field itself, which I suppose may offer guidance to internal review boards and granting institutions, but shouldn't seek to stifle such research. A very recent example of the promise of gene therapy in humans is the recent development of a new treatment for Hemophilia B (link below). In reference to the initial comments, a perfect movie (albeit dramatize and slightly alarmist) concerning the universal application of genetic engineering in the human population is Gattaca (IMDB does a far better job of describing the plot than I ever could). In short, dont knock it until we've tried it.

[url="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119177/"]http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119177/[/url]
[url="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/11/health/research/hemophilia-b-gene-therapy-breakthrough.html?_r=1&ref=geneticengineering"]http://www.nytimes.c...eticengineering[/url]
[/quote]

Thanks for the input. I totally agree that we need to get to the point where we can actually do some of the things in question before we should be deciding the morality of such acts, simply because too much depends on exactly how we're going about these activities.

[elizabeth09]

I do see you point. Some people will want to look their best. There are some ways that you do not need glasses. But as a person who wear glasses and contacts, I prefer wearing them.

[Laudate_Dominum]

This may be a can of worms worthy of a spin-off thread, but I'm curious about applications of genetic engineering and gene therapy to radical life extension, cryonics, and suspended animation. For example, pigs have apparently been put into suspended animation and successfully revived, going to to live out normal pig lifespans. The problem is that the process involved draining their blood and replacing it with a saline fluid. Not exactly a procedure I'd want to undergo. A similar problem exists in cryonics and cryopreservation in general.
My idea is to adapt the human body so that a special protein is synthesized in cells that inhibits ice crystal formation. There are species in Antarctica that produce such a protein. Hypothetically, this could dramatically boost cryonics and suspended animation tech.

[Ice_nine]

I did a paper about designer babies back in high school.

read some pretty rad stuff

didn't save the bibliography

dissapointment

[Winchester]

How do property rights play into enjoining a neighbor to cease activities which may lead to smiting?

[Selah]

[quote name='Ice_nine' timestamp='1328433261' post='2381401']
I did a paper about designer babies back in high school.

read some pretty rad stuff

didn't save the bibliography

dissapointment
[/quote]

I am so dissapoint.

[Ice_nine]

One was a journal article about man's interaction with technology and made a lot of wonderful points that were mostly about my reading level at the time. I would love to find it again now that I"m a little smurter and older and wiser.

One interesting point the author made is how we think that we are master manipulators of technology. But since technology isn't human (yet mwahahahaha) like we are, it follows a program and logarithms and WE are the ones that have to adapt to their patterns, not the other way around.

Of course that's my feeble wording. beaver dam I really wanna find that article!