Comment Re:This too was foreseen (Score 1) 902
I'm comfortable w/ my reaction, and I do agree with your point that I am assuming the worst in the motives above. My own point here is that even if only correcting the medical problem was the acceptable answer, who is to say that making this therapy more accessible to people via the market for attractive blonde children would not further that end? Yet the GP does not appear to make any point beyond "they were right, this would happen?" So who now will tell us that this new development is good or bad? Is it something we've discussed enough to understand the pros, cons, and that troublesome gray area that we all live inside?
My bigger problem is a lack of discussion when the Frankenbaby topic comes up - my scientist friends see very little ethical issue with eugenics, and my religious family members see no potential benefits, where as many reasonable people can approach a working solution in the middle.
I can think of many great discussion points as to why eugenics is bad. 1. I think diversity works great with ensuring the fitness of life. 2.We have a lot of ancient genetic material just sitting in our genome and that we don't fully understand to simply erase it. 3.Could we in fact create a new race of humans that would end up conquering us and turn us into the new Neanderthal? 4.Would our tampering release a susceptibility to a common illness that our genes protected us from previously?
Lots of possible vectors of discussion. I have discussed the right to life and where life begins with a Catholic bishop using science. I have been unable to have a meaningful eugenic-science conversation with fundamentalist Christian family members who went to college and are educated almost to the same level as that bishop.
The term Moral Fiber is one that only exists from the perspective of the person giving judgment and not from an equal entering into discussion with someone else. Just because someone doesn't like an idea does not immediately give them a valid opinion with weight, no matter how loudly they preach it - we must earn that weight through discussions with others.
