Post: Genetic Engineering
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04-30-2012, 12:39 AM
#1
schaffinosx
To and fro the island.
I quickly found, however, that this is not entirely true in the eyes of everyone. Some people see a major religious fallacy in this claim, or a moral one. Some people say that, by genetically engineering a human being, we're tinkering with what "God made", or changing a person without them having the ability to refute it.
Where do you fall? Is genetic engineering morally wrong, or could it benefit humanity, and the world, greatly?
05-07-2012, 10:47 AM
#12
XeXenon
Guest
Off Topic:
I don't know if were aware of this, but recently scientists have been attempting to develop an orthogonal chromosome different from DNA and RNA, called XNA (Xeno Nucleic Acids). XNA, when introduced to engineered reverse Transcriptases, enzymes HNA and CeNA react with the XNA to form a orthogonal chromosome identical to a DNA Helicase structure. What this means is that in the future scientists can use XNA to design and construct large biological systems instead of just modifying single genes. Keep in mind that this is still under heavy research and is just a theory.
It's all quite interesting really. If you'd like to read more about it here's a few links:
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On Topic:
It seems almost contradictory to me that religious people claim that Genetic Engineering is "altering gods work" as the idea of Genetic Engineering in itself is in direct correlation with Evolution ideals concerning altering genes weather artificially or naturally, which of course goes against any religious claims of the origin of man (AKA Creationism), But I digress.
As far as drawbacks/dangers from Genetic Engineering as long as you are altering single Genes and not the entire Genome as a whole then I cannot imagine there being any sort of problem physically.
Personally I am all for Genetic Engineering & Modification. If you can make something better without any dangers or risks, why not?
I don't know if were aware of this, but recently scientists have been attempting to develop an orthogonal chromosome different from DNA and RNA, called XNA (Xeno Nucleic Acids). XNA, when introduced to engineered reverse Transcriptases, enzymes HNA and CeNA react with the XNA to form a orthogonal chromosome identical to a DNA Helicase structure. What this means is that in the future scientists can use XNA to design and construct large biological systems instead of just modifying single genes. Keep in mind that this is still under heavy research and is just a theory.
It's all quite interesting really. If you'd like to read more about it here's a few links:
You must login or register to view this content.
You must login or register to view this content.
On Topic:
It seems almost contradictory to me that religious people claim that Genetic Engineering is "altering gods work" as the idea of Genetic Engineering in itself is in direct correlation with Evolution ideals concerning altering genes weather artificially or naturally, which of course goes against any religious claims of the origin of man (AKA Creationism), But I digress.
As far as drawbacks/dangers from Genetic Engineering as long as you are altering single Genes and not the entire Genome as a whole then I cannot imagine there being any sort of problem physically.
Personally I am all for Genetic Engineering & Modification. If you can make something better without any dangers or risks, why not?
05-08-2012, 04:50 PM
#13
Pricey91
Professor of trollology
Originally posted by pandabutt
Ultimately, genetic engineering will let humanity choose its own path of evolution. The question is, should we?
Have we not done that already though? It's hard to see where natural selection comes into play any more. Even the weakest people in our societies are able to "thrive" in evolutionary terms because we're so isolated from the rest of the world. What are the chances of you going outside and getting eaten by a wild animal? Pretty small, I'd bet. There are on the other hand the very poor people in places such as Africa who are exposed to the risks of animals and diseases on a daily basis, maybe this is where genetic diversity will come from.
On your point of "should we?", I see no reason not too. I see no problem will altering our genetics to get rid of diseases and ultimately allow us to live longer fuller lives. There is no difference going to the doctor and getting some medicine to get rid of an illness. If you see that as morally wrong then you're not going to have the best of times later in life.
05-23-2012, 01:26 PM
#14
WaferPink
Keeper
When I did my perfoming arts exam around this I watched a film about it and I have no issue with stopping illnesses but I think it is a step to far when you change the look of your child. I believe we should love our children no matter how they look and what colour eyes they have as the saying says, "warts and all".
05-23-2012, 03:34 PM
#15
06-08-2012, 07:09 PM
#16
Epic?
Awe-Inspiring
Originally posted by SchaffinOSX
As I consider entering the field of biotechnology, I'm considering the moral aspects of one of the largest parts of the practice: genetic engineering. When I first started researching the topic, I saw no downsides; the ability to cure diseases before birth, to end disabilities all make genetic engineering seem like the profound solutions to problems humanity has been plagued with for thousands of years.
I quickly found, however, that this is not entirely true in the eyes of everyone. Some people see a major religious fallacy in this claim, or a moral one. Some people say that, by genetically engineering a human being, we're tinkering with what "God made", or changing a person without them having the ability to refute it.
Where do you fall? Is genetic engineering morally wrong, or could it benefit humanity, and the world, greatly?
I quickly found, however, that this is not entirely true in the eyes of everyone. Some people see a major religious fallacy in this claim, or a moral one. Some people say that, by genetically engineering a human being, we're tinkering with what "God made", or changing a person without them having the ability to refute it.
Where do you fall? Is genetic engineering morally wrong, or could it benefit humanity, and the world, greatly?
I support genetic engineering, but not as much as I support nanoscale technologies and human-embedded robotics.
The fact is, the human body is an incredibly flawed device.
Our reproduction mechanism is sub-optimal. There's often anomalies. While sometimes these anomalies are good, more often than not, they're bad.
Our means of evolving and improving aren't very good. We can't just adapt on a whim, and we can't choose our adaptions. We can't simply attach additional devices and sensors to our body to improve, or switch bodies all together.
Our body frequently malfunctions. We become ill or damage our bodies. And we can't recover very quickly, if at all. We can't replace our bodies either.
We feel pain and anger. These are great if you only have one body and when your body ends, so does your consciousness - survival becomes important (and so do senses like pain), but ultimately they're unproductive. It's much better to not feel pain because your body is not connected to your thoughts.
Our range of senses are poor. We can only detect a small portion of the vast number of occurrences in the universe.
Our means of transportation are poor. They frequently malfunction. We can't move quickly. They get tired.
Our means of learning is terribly inefficient. We really can't remember all that much. We're not very good at computing data. It takes a lot of time to learn and relearn everything. Sharing information is incredibly inefficient, it takes us a long time to transmit and process information.
Whenever we die we suffer a tremendous loss of information. Every bit of knowledge that person gained is gone - and it'll never come back.
This is why I support genetic engineering, as well as other technologies (notably robotics) that seek to make the current human body obsolete. The human body is literally the greatest plague of the human race. In terms of the human body, the time of genetic evolution is coming to an end, the time of scientific and technological evolution (which may include genetic engineering, although, with luck, one day genes as a whole will be made obsolete) is just beginning. That's my belief.
The following user thanked Epic? for this useful post:
06-08-2012, 08:42 PM
#17
Pichu
PICHU.
PICHU.
Originally posted by Epic
I support genetic engineering, but not as much as I support nanoscale technologies and human-embedded robotics.
The fact is, the human body is an incredibly flawed device.
Our reproduction mechanism is sub-optimal. There's often anomalies. While sometimes these anomalies are good, more often than not, they're bad.
Our means of evolving and improving aren't very good. We can't just adapt on a whim, and we can't choose our adaptions. We can't simply attach additional devices and sensors to our body to improve, or switch bodies all together.
Our body frequently malfunctions. We become ill or damage our bodies. And we can't recover very quickly, if at all. We can't replace our bodies either.
We feel pain and anger. These are great if you only have one body and when your body ends, so does your consciousness - survival becomes important (and so do senses like pain), but ultimately they're unproductive. It's much better to not feel pain because your body is not connected to your thoughts.
Our range of senses are poor. We can only detect a small portion of the vast number of occurrences in the universe.
Our means of transportation are poor. They frequently malfunction. We can't move quickly. They get tired.
Our means of learning is terribly inefficient. We really can't remember all that much. We're not very good at computing data. It takes a lot of time to learn and relearn everything. Sharing information is incredibly inefficient, it takes us a long time to transmit and process information.
Whenever we die we suffer a tremendous loss of information. Every bit of knowledge that person gained is gone - and it'll never come back.
This is why I support genetic engineering, as well as other technologies (notably robotics) that seek to make the current human body obsolete. The human body is literally the greatest plague of the human race. In terms of the human body, the time of genetic evolution is coming to an end, the time of scientific and technological evolution (which may include genetic engineering, although, with luck, one day genes as a whole will be made obsolete) is just beginning. That's my belief.
The fact is, the human body is an incredibly flawed device.
Our reproduction mechanism is sub-optimal. There's often anomalies. While sometimes these anomalies are good, more often than not, they're bad.
Our means of evolving and improving aren't very good. We can't just adapt on a whim, and we can't choose our adaptions. We can't simply attach additional devices and sensors to our body to improve, or switch bodies all together.
Our body frequently malfunctions. We become ill or damage our bodies. And we can't recover very quickly, if at all. We can't replace our bodies either.
We feel pain and anger. These are great if you only have one body and when your body ends, so does your consciousness - survival becomes important (and so do senses like pain), but ultimately they're unproductive. It's much better to not feel pain because your body is not connected to your thoughts.
Our range of senses are poor. We can only detect a small portion of the vast number of occurrences in the universe.
Our means of transportation are poor. They frequently malfunction. We can't move quickly. They get tired.
Our means of learning is terribly inefficient. We really can't remember all that much. We're not very good at computing data. It takes a lot of time to learn and relearn everything. Sharing information is incredibly inefficient, it takes us a long time to transmit and process information.
Whenever we die we suffer a tremendous loss of information. Every bit of knowledge that person gained is gone - and it'll never come back.
This is why I support genetic engineering, as well as other technologies (notably robotics) that seek to make the current human body obsolete. The human body is literally the greatest plague of the human race. In terms of the human body, the time of genetic evolution is coming to an end, the time of scientific and technological evolution (which may include genetic engineering, although, with luck, one day genes as a whole will be made obsolete) is just beginning. That's my belief.
Very similar to my set of beliefs as well. I support this, with genetic engineering cures can be developed in the process, immunity to disease and viruses, we can create a stronger and more capable brain, improve the way our body performs.
...KyleXY
The following user thanked Pichu for this useful post:
06-10-2012, 05:25 AM
#18
Lovol
Guest
Originally posted by SchaffinOSX
As I consider entering the field of biotechnology, I'm considering the moral aspects of one of the largest parts of the practice: genetic engineering. When I first started researching the topic, I saw no downsides; the ability to cure diseases before birth, to end disabilities all make genetic engineering seem like the profound solutions to problems humanity has been plagued with for thousands of years.
I quickly found, however, that this is not entirely true in the eyes of everyone. Some people see a major religious fallacy in this claim, or a moral one. Some people say that, by genetically engineering a human being, we're tinkering with what "God made", or changing a person without them having the ability to refute it.
Where do you fall? Is genetic engineering morally wrong, or could it benefit humanity, and the world, greatly?
I quickly found, however, that this is not entirely true in the eyes of everyone. Some people see a major religious fallacy in this claim, or a moral one. Some people say that, by genetically engineering a human being, we're tinkering with what "God made", or changing a person without them having the ability to refute it.
Where do you fall? Is genetic engineering morally wrong, or could it benefit humanity, and the world, greatly?
From a religious aspect (in many religions), genetic engineering is not only unethical, but forbidden. Hell, in some religions, even altering the body when dead is a bad thing. I'm not the most religious person. In fact, I'm probably one of the least. But like I said, to keep it unbiased, I have to take it from a different perspective. More/less in religion nowadays, everything's become more of a tradition rather than just reading and abiding by what the books say. So genetic engineering, in this case would still be widely unaccepted by a large group of people.
However, in terms of science/medicine, genetic engineering could be good and bad. To make sure this works, it'd need to be tested. And we're a pretty unique species, so there'd be either two ways to go for this. Either on apes, which is only 97% accurate, or by humans. If done with apes, we won't have a 100% knowledge on what could happen. If done on humans, we can undergo deaths, illnesses, etc.
But foreseeing it's positive effects, it'd be great. Once said testing is complete, and pre-birth immunizations/vaccines/etc. would give the developing human body's antibodies plenty of time to do their job and grow immune to the dead cells they've been exposed to.
Definite 50/50 for me.
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