The Brave New World of Genetic Engineering
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Hello All,
Manipulation of DNA one day will allow human beings to re-engineer life itself. Even now it is possible to choose a baby's sex. In the future we may be able to choose any characteristics from the colour of its eyes to the straightness of its hair.
Perhaps humanity itself could be re-engineered to become more peaceable.
Some have argued that humans indeed need to be re-engineered to compete with artificial intelligence of computers in the future.
What say you?
Regards,
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It's theoretically possible but we still have a long, long way to go. We barely scratched the surface of human genetics, we know what's in the genome but we've yet to learn what each part does.
It's theoretically possible to look for a genetic basis of aggression in humans. No study had discovered it so far; it would take a long time IMO because to study specific genes means you will have to identify the genes, create experiments to test for the effects of absence/presence of each gene, also the various variations of it. And even at that stage we still have a long way to go. Most genetic studies are done on nonhuman animals (rats, flies, fish) and the results may or may not be similar in humans. Decisive studies can be made if scientists are allowed to engineer 'lab humans' with manipulated genes, but I'm sure people would be concerned with the ethics of such experiment.
So, I can say that it's too early to discuss this. It's the same as traditionalists in the 80s asking where a Muslim should face if s/he do salat on the Moon.
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SaLaM
Scientists use rats and monkeys to test their products on, no wonder so many people die by taking medicines. In my opinion, prisoners on death row should be used as human subjects in any experiment. I dont see how an etical issue can be raised. Yea, he will probably die, but he will die contributing to the medical society D . Atleast we will know precisly what effects can take place by altering a certain gene and can then make double progress in genetics.