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 Posted: Tue Aug 12, 2003 1:59 am Post subject: DAFN Extinction on the Horizon... |
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Author Bill McKibben: Genetic Engineering at a Crossroad
http://www.voanews.com/article.cfm?objectID=1E8B79A5-3BA3-4AD9-B61B5DA0F88CF7D5
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Bill McKibben: .... So we>ve made fat mice and smart mice and
changed the behavior of all kinds of other animals, and now there
are people who want to do it on human beings. All these traits of
appearance, IQ, sociability, seem to be genetically influenced
in large ways.
Nancy Beardsley: You also write about the problem of genetically
engineered humans becoming obsolete. In what sense?
Bill McKibben: Let>s say you go into the clinic in a few years to
get this sort of enhancement or genetic upgrade for your first child.
Five years later you decide you want another child. By now, the
upgrades are better, and there are more genes they know about.
What>s your first child - sort of Windows 95? The conversion of
human beings into products means we will have all the attributes
that go with products, including that kind of obsolescence.
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In the list of traits he might have included:
violence, aggressiveness, impulsiveness, irresponsibility, laziness.
And under attributes of products, he might have added: inferiority
and *superiority*.
Prospective parents to geneticist: "Whatever you do, this child
shall have no characteristics of a DAFN..." |
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