Is Genetically Engineering Your Children Ethical?

[Jennifer]

You can use other nations if they currently have this program in place.  You cannot use other nations that have dynamically different cultures to demonstrate how our culture will work.

Even if we pretend that there would be a premium on boys in this nation, all that will do is make women more valuable and the pendulem will swing in the opposite direction resulting in a balance between males and females.

I just want to try and nip a lot of these extreme examples in the butt before they are proposed with seriousness.  We are not talking about a single governmentally approved list of genetic codes, nor are we talking about allowing people to select from a bank.  I’m talking about a mother and father going to the doctor, having the child screened genetically for abnormalities and, at the same time, having the doctor tweak certain features like having the child have the mother’s eyes or the father’s chin, etc.

No body sculpting.  No brain enhancements.  No eyes with reflective surfaces like cats to provide for night vision.  No third lungs so they can stay under water longer.  No extra 4 arms to make them spiderlike.

[Pervavita]

but where will it stop? this year we allow medical treatment, next year we allow eye and hair color changes. in 10 gender selection and sexuall prefrence. it will progress further and further with each passing advancment untell you can go to the doc and say, “I want a tall genious who can be an all star quarterback.”
what right to you have to chose what your child dose for a living or even what they look like? lets say you chose your chin for your kid but they don’t like it. you chose it directly, so you take the blame for it as you should. what if your idea of what would look good is not in keeping with what your child thinks looks good? this line of thought is the same as you forcing your child to dress up so they are popular even when they don’t want to, or forcing your child to take 4 years of math even if they only want and have to take 2 years.
you are the parent, but it is not your right to live there lifes for them.

[Imperious Leader]

ahh its no use anyway. Eventually they will have pills that make brown skin white, change your hair color while your alive to any color you want, and probably swap out your eyes for blue ones. Then you drink something and your brain is able to sponge up memory like it did when you were 5 years old, allowing people to learn things quickly.

When people die they just remove the head after making it young and stick it on a 16 year old body that was grown like a KFC chicken fryer in a laboratory.

good times.

[cyan]

@Cmdr:

Is it more ethical to allow nature to produce children with brain damage, who are born addicted to drugs and/or are born with serious physical handicaps just so that you can say that medical science had nothing to do with it?  Or is it more ethical to allow medical science to fix these problems at a very early stage, but allow them to also give the child his Mother’s eyes and his father’s chin?

was einstien or lincoln or any of the savants like rain man a problem? they would of been fixed and the world would of be a worse place. You can not change anything in the brain though artificial selection or we will have a society of complete idiots starving who shout out Hail Big Brother.  Also if never said why parents should have the right to have a custom designed child. this isn’t a car but a human. unless you have  a life threating disease or a severe handicap like being born without your spine fully closed you should not intervene in another’s life. I would rather have 11 toes and made from natural selection than be a artificial selected drone. How do you know that baby would not grow up like me and prefer that choice? Also allowing custom designed children will decrease diversity and make us more prone to pandemic and the like.

[Jennifer]

Perv:

That’s a slippery slope argument and the problem with those are that you can basically make any action or inaction seem unethical with them.

Let’s just stay within the confines of the scenario.

Cyan:

Considering we have no problem with aborting savants and individuals who are inconvenient or deformed, I cannot seehow that argument really holds much water.  Unless you want to say that abortion is less harmful then tweaking an individual to make their lives easier.

IL:

I understand your position, but it would be easier to adapt a single cell then an adult body, right?

[Imperious Leader]

I am not sure but now the Frankenstein idea seems more fascinating. I am now for creating monsters. They would be fun to have around and perhaps we can use one of them to play the new Herman Munster in a new reality series on MTV. Capitalism at its best.

good times.

[cyan]

@Cmdr:

Considering we have no problem with aborting savants and individuals who are inconvenient or deformed, I cannot seehow that argument really holds much water.  Unless you want to say that abortion is less harmful then tweaking an individual to make their lives easier.

Techanicaly if you use that agrument then the parents could be jail for a hate crime, murdering because they are descrimanting. I don’t think you can just abort someone because you think that baby is ugly or you wanted a girl. I think you have to have a real reason to abort like having no way to provide for the chilld or something.

[Pervavita]

abortion is a compleatly diffrint discusion then this.

so your saying that we can’t use history to argue for what this may lead to? so again you are picking arguments that fit your side and saying that arguments that don’t fit you because they are not easy for you to argue against arn’t allowed.

what right do you have as a parent to decide what your child will look like? you can chose your mate with some intentions, but that is not the same as going in and saying “it will be blond, blue eyes, and be good at sports.” few people realy chose there mate based on the children they will have, yes some do but more times then not they chose for love or atleast the perception of love, not “wow he/she is blond i want blond kids so lets mate.”

[balungaloaf]

what about that couple in cali who were deaf.  they were able to make their newborn deaf.

so should that be legal?  to intentionaly cripple your child one way or the other to your liking?

[Jennifer]

@cyan:

@Cmdr:

Considering we have no problem with aborting savants and individuals who are inconvenient or deformed, I cannot seehow that argument really holds much water.  Unless you want to say that abortion is less harmful then tweaking an individual to make their lives easier.

Techanicaly if you use that agrument then the parents could be jail for a hate crime, murdering because they are descrimanting. I don’t think you can just abort someone because you think that baby is ugly or you wanted a girl. I think you have to have a real reason to abort like having no way to provide for the chilld or something.

Abortions are like divorce.  You don’t need a reason.  Just fill out the appropriate forms, sign at the X and pay the fee and you can get them for any reason.

So yes, it’s pefectly legal to keep aborting babies until you get the gender you want, etc.  Under today’s laws.

[Yemble]

I will only approve of genetic modification if I can program them to be submissive slaves that can not think for themselves and do all the work around the house…also they should expire before they become too old to become a problem.

[Imperious Leader]

I will only approve of genetic modification if I can program them to be submissive slaves

We will genetically make Apes smarter and reduce them to second class citizens. Thats what man does

[cyan]

@Yemble:

I will only approve of genetic modification if I can program them to be submissive slaves that can not think for themselves and do all the work around the house…also they should expire before they become too old to become a problem.

sounds like your a plantation owner. lol

[Guest]

Or a Dominant…  :evil:

[Yemble]

Don’t have the land to be a plantation owner….I just hate cleaning the rim of my toilet and the such.  Maybe I can have them actually born with some sort of harness like thing attached to their body so they can haul the trash and do yard-work easier.  So many possibilities.

[newpaintbrush]

@Imperious:

I will only approve of genetic modification if I can program them to be submissive slaves

We will genetically make Apes smarter and reduce them to second class citizens. Thats what man does

Caesar!  That’s quite a name for an ape!

[Jennifer]

@Bunnies:

@Imperious:

I will only approve of genetic modification if I can program them to be submissive slaves

We will genetically make Apes smarter and reduce them to second class citizens. Thats what man does

Caesar!  That’s quite a name for an ape!

He didn’t work out too well.

[Guerrilla Guy]

@Cmdr:

@Bunnies:

@Imperious:

I will only approve of genetic modification if I can program them to be submissive slaves

We will genetically make Apes smarter and reduce them to second class citizens. Thats what man does

Caesar!  That’s quite a name for an ape!

He didn’t work out too well.

Well considering the ape was probably smoking the same stuff he was, then that makes sense…

GG