re: Transhumanist medical ethics?

hal@rain.org
Sat, 27 Feb 1999 13:12:02 -0800

J. Eric Mortensen, <eric@episteme.no>, writes:
> I think a moral obligation to perform genetic modifications in offspring would
> be to the detriment of society.
> [...]
> Third, if we mandate that parents perform genetic modifications to their
> children, then someone must pay for them, and most likely that must
> be the parents themselves.

I'd say it is premature to jump into discussions of forcing other people to follow our morality. These are difficult issues, and most of us cannot even decide for ourselves what is the right thing to do. Why then should we be in a hurry to decide for others?

These discussions so often fall into this trap. We start off wrestling with difficult and challenging issues of right and wrong, and pretty soon we sink back into the boring old libertarian argument.

Let's leave other people to make their own decisions for now, until we can come up with a consensus about how each of us should live our own lives.

Hal