The Genetic Extinction of Man
On this dawn of genetic
engineering and cloning, there exists the future possibility of creating
genius children for virtually everyone. While we are at it, why not also
make them physically superior and free of genetic diseases. Though this
may soon be possible, we must fight it with everything we can because it
would mean the extinction of the human race.
What? How could creating perfect
human beings be the end of humanity? Let me touch on some of the logical
and irrefutable key points:
1. Human civilization needs a diverse group of individuals to keep it
functional and successful.
We need leaders and followers, we need thinkers and workers, we need
the physical and the intellectual. Without the complementary component of
any of these, civilized society would be unable to maintain itself.
2. If we genetically design humans, we lose the potential of
evolutionary advancement/resiliency that spontaneous mutations can give
us.
Natural selection allows a population to tend towards a more desirable
trait for the environment and the demands of society at large. Millennia
ago, women mated men who could take care of them, which meant that they
were physically capable of being a good provider and men married women who
had the physical characteristics that helped with survival and
procreation. But it has been the mutations throughout our evolution that
have given us unexpected advances and resiliency. For instance, one would
think that eradicating the sickle-cell gene would be good, but such is far
from true. Though the homozygous sickle-cell situation (where the
individual has the sickle cell gene from both parents) is bad for the
individual, the sickle cell trait (the sickle-cell gene from just one
parent) is beneficial as the sickle-shaped red blood cells are resistant
to certain diseases such as malaria. Though this is not important in the
United States where malaria for the most part does not exist, it is
crucial in places such as Africa. Besides, what if some dictator releases
a fatal mutant malaria on the world, where only those with the sickle cell
trait would survive. What was thought to be a defect would have turned out
to be a critical asset for survival.
3. Sometimes it is the individuals with less desirable traits that end
up making some of the greatest contributions to mankind.
Our history is fraught will great persons whose contributions may
have been driven by some of their genetic failings. Many had depression, a
physical disability, were homely looking, and so on. If some of these
people were perfect physical specimens they may not strive for success. We
could end up with a race of superbeings whose only desire was to be a
“couch potato” (a lazy person who just eats and watches television).
4. There is much more to genetics than DNA.
We can put the same DNA into two different egg cells where the DNA
was removed and we will get too different individuals. We are slowly
finding that there is much more to genetics than DNA. The secondary,
tertiary, and so on structure of DNA makes a difference in how it is
expressed. Also the amounts of certain proteins, ions, chemicals, etc. in
the cytoplasm can also play a role. And there is so much more, and even
more that we don’t know.
5. If we clone individuals, we lose diversity and genetic fading will
cause extinction.
Without getting too technical, basically taking someone’s DNA and
injecting it into an egg cell is only the tip of the iceberg. As
previously noted, the shape of the DNA, the proteins, and more determine
the way genetic code will be expressed. Also the copying of a copy, of a
copy,…of anything will never result in anything as good as the original.
Besides cloning defies diversity, which mankind needs to survive.
A society made up of all Einsteins
will surely fail as one that consists of perfect physical specimens.
Geniuses doing factory work would be dissatisfied to the point of
rejection or suicide, while someone with a lower IQ who found such factory
work challenging would be fine with their contribution to society. We need
diversity in humanity to survive and every time we decrease the
possibility of future diversity such as through genetic engineering, we
decrease our future potential. Even worse, we could cause our own
extinction.
Dr. Siepmann, Editor
Journal of Theoretics
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