From: Adrian Tymes (wingcat@pacbell.net)
Date: Mon Jun 23 2003 - 18:53:19 MDT
--- Damien Broderick <damienb@unimelb.edu.au> wrote:
> >Professor Annas, a leading figure in American
> bioethics, counters that
> >"Uncontrolled use of the new genetic technologies
> risks setting us on a
> >dehumanizing road to genetic genocide.
>
> Fascinating! While that might be true in the limited
> sense that human
> cloning and some forms of allele selection or
> elimination would narrow
> genotype variety (by deleting genes conducing to
> cystic fibrosis, say, or
> severe mental retardation), the plain logical
> implication is that Professor
> Annas ought to *applaud and support* widespread
> optional use of the new
> genetic technologies to enhance humans in new and
> diverse ways, the
> opposite of genocide. (Don't hold your breath.)
...okay, I'm spacing here. There's a standard retort
to the fear that genetic enhancement will lead to a
single genotype becoming dominant - much moreso, by a
much higher percentage (at least of those with access
to this) having more 9s in their 99.999...% similar
DNA, than is presently the norm - with the remaining
holdouts becoming discriminated against for that
reason alone. But I forget what that retort is just
now.
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