Hollywood films such as The Seventh Day and Gattaca share something in common, both films deal with the highly explosive topic pertaining to the eventual outcome of human cloning and genetic engineering respectively. Such films display the possible negative aspects of implementing such moves in relation to achieving a Utopian type of human perfection. The question surrounding these practices and the pros and cons of involving a person or child in the issue is the concentration of the journalistic essay of Michael Sandel. His well-researched and written investigative report beg his readers to ask themselves to contemplate the question ” Is genetic alteration acceptable within given confines?” Or, does genetic enhancement change the stakes of humanity in terms of a person’s “gifted character” and does it pose a threat upon a fundamental person’s appreciation of the perceived extraordinary abilities of other people?
Reading his extensively long article in The Atlantic entitled ” The Case Against Perfection” opened my eyes to the reality that it is in the shared imperfections of mankind that gives one the definition of life and what it takes to be a human being. The unlocking of the human genome has opened the basic foundation of human life to the possibility of extensive alterations that, although sounding very promising in the short term, actually poses more of a problem in terms of the long-term physical, mental, and emotional development of man. I have come to realize that the problem of genetic development is, aside from the fact that it can deliver genetically enhanced people, it also provides for an avenue to abuse the basic rights of an unborn fetus. The chilling results will provide one with a shell of a human being. A human being is defined by his ability to develop and make decisions for himself without any predetermining factors such as enhanced human cells or deducted human cells which would normally dictate the direction in which one would develop over time.
Even without genetic engineering, a person is already born with some sort of natural enhancement designed to give him an edge over others of the same age and capabilities. We already know that there are child geniuses, musical prodigies, and athletic machines who seem to exist just because they can. Although, there are those who also manage to achieve some sort of perfection in their areas of interest simply by persevering and applying themselves even harder than those whose abilities come naturally to them. Looking at such achievements provides an unaltered person with a different kind of sense of accomplishment. For such people, these accomplishments come with a price paid for with sacrifice and belief in one’s self. The achievements are bittersweet because it comes at the end of a long series of failures or trials and errors. These are the factors by which each triumphant result is viewed by the person as an extraordinary gift during his lifetime. Most of these people, may not be able to replicate the same rate of success in their next efforts. Such accomplishments, when achieved by a genetically altered person lose their meaning because of the “scientific edge” factor. His parents already had his genetics manipulated in order to ensure his success in a field of his parent’s choice. So the eventual outcome of his perceived efforts is not unexpected and therefore does not provide the same “gifted” sense of accomplishment to the parties concerned.
Further on in the story, I began to realize that modern technology, coupled with scientific discoveries has taken us further than Hitler’s genetic manipulations during his horrific reign of Europe during World War II. He had begun these genetic alteration experiments in his quest for the perfect German specimen. He failed to do so and people also put a stop to his madman quest. However, it seems that his efforts had planted enough seeds within the scientific community so that bioengineering developed at a pace faster than mankind will ever be able to understand.
Genetic enhancements of any sort prove to be a real threat to the existence of our future generations because of the way our society is structured. Such scientific applications for commercial human use are highly prohibitive in cost and can only be availed of by the ultra moneyed rich people who seek perfection in every way. The gift of human life becomes a pawn in the game of “Mine is better than yours” when it comes to the abilities and accomplishments of the genetically altered child. For the child who was born to serve as a photo opportunity and proof of his parent’s wealth, such genetic enhancements do nothing for him in terms of his human development.
The joy of child-rearing comes from the fact that nobody really knows how a child will turn out in the future. As he develops, his parents are gifted with the opportunity to see how much like a particular parent a child is or is not. Without genetic manipulation, a child is given an opportunity to discover who he is, what makes him special, and what sets him apart from others of his age and interests. A product of enhanced DNA structuring on the other hand is born in the same way that a robot is created. Without a sense of free will and the ability of an automaton without actually realizing that he was practically bullied into the life and interests that he is engaged in before he left his mother’s womb.
These are the “gifted character” traits that are threatened with erasure as more and more parents who can afford it seek to conceive their ideals of the perfect child before or after birth. In the end, genetic manipulation will leave us not with a generation of free-willed individuals but rather a generation of adults who were cloned and manipulated by their parent’s whims for the personal pleasure of their parents or “creators”.