Acta Diurna, Outlaws of the Genomic Wastes

A Right To Stay Human?

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being human

[insert ‘CRISPR’ pun here]

According to some accounts, many of our problems can be traced to this moment:

“By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work.”

Many would agree that the world is basically good, as discussed on this site here, or at least better than many alternatives. However many would not argue against it needing a little fixing up. It’s run down a bit, and somethings probably need a complete rethink altogether. Mass global extinctions, suffering, and the platypus immediately come to mind, for example. As Yossarian said to Lieutenant Scheisskopf’s wife,

“And don’t tell me God works in mysterious ways…There’s nothing mysterious about it, He’s not working at all. He’s playing. Or else He’s forgotten all about us… What in the world was running through that warped, evil, scatological mind of His when He robbed old people of the power to control their bowel movements? Why in the world did He ever create pain?” 

Maybe Yossarian expresses this more strongly than necessary, but then he was under a lot of pressure, there being a war on and everyone trying to kill him. He knew they were trying to kill him because they kept shooting at him every time he flew a bombing mission.  His point is valid, however, many believe humankind could do with a little editing. For that matter, frogs, honeybees, the African elephant, and any other species on the verge of extinction could probably do with a helping hand.

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Acta Diurna, Summa Scientia Genetica

Not the clone army you’re looking for.

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stormtrooper

Boethius, adviser to Theodoric the Great, king of the Ostrogoths, weighs in on the ethics of gene editing in human embryos

“No news is good news.”

An oft repeated old saying, but when examined contains a pleasantly profound kernel: its unstated assumption is that “good” is the norm, and “bad” is the exception. Bad is newsworthy, good is commonplace. Grossly extrapolating on this, we could suppose this to mean that people might be inherently good as well. The bible claims, after all, that we’re made in the image of God. This was probably a good deal for us, though when I look in the mirror I fear God got the wrong end of the bargain. As Woody Allen wrote in Love and Death:

Boris: “You think I was made in God’s image? Take a look at me. You think He wears glasses?”
Sonja: “Not with those frames.

Of course one might suppose that using God’s image was aiming a bit too high for us, maybe an intelligent version of the panda would have been a less acrimonious and bellicose species to have dominion over this planet. Or maybe sentience was a bad idea all together for us. However, the story in Genesis concludes with the declaration, “ And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good.” So there’s that. Furthermore, several studies have suggested that people are intuitively cooperative, and that even infants prefer people who help others. Thus, even the cold light of science suggests that people are, basically, OK.

Nonetheless, despite this and the engineering adage, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”, we can’t help but want to improve on ourselves. Again peaking into Genesis, self-improvement was the first temptation to humanity; the snake told Eve that if she and Adam ate the forbidden fruit “… you will be like God.”

That’s a hard proposition to pass on.

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