Have humans become gods?
Over the course of 200,000 years, Homo Sapiens have managed to disintegrate every other Sapien including Neanderthals who lived on the Earth 20 million years, but does anyone weep for the Neanderthal?
New technologies and discoveries have been opened to humanity, allowing mass agriculture to large machines that run off of electricity. We harvest electricity from intricate devices that we’ve developed to harness the world and even the sun. This is all considered human progress, but where could the next frontier be?
Last year a new technology has allowed us to push forward humanity further than ever before, to the extent of even seeming science fiction.
That new Technology is called Crispr.
Photo Credit: www.21stcentech.com
Crispr, simply explained, is a DNA archive saved in each cell that is more easily programmable due to its powerful protein Cas-9 which edits DNA. Before the discovery of Crispr, genetic engineering required years to perform and very deep pockets. Now it’s 99% cheaper and only takes a few weeks in an ordinary lab.
Soon new generations of Crispr will be innovated and gene modifying will become even cheaper allowing people in ordinary labs to genetically enhance anything. So sooner or later it will have an effect on everyone. For instance genetically modified food already exists but now it’ll be far easier to create new strains of crops larger and more resistant to drought. Starvation will become less of a problem even in developing countries whom get their hands on these new strains of wheat or rice.
Entire new menus will be created over the next few decades including new tastes and healthy food just as delicious as ice cream. Mutating animals through selective breeding has been ongoing for thousands of years, far before agriculture. Attempting to change their DNA has been attempted for the last fifty years but now it’s cheaper and easier to do.
This genetic door that has been opened will help the fight against diseases or defects as we develop genes in mosquitoes to deny and attack malaria or create white blood cells that are more efficient in killing cancer cells. Yet with all the shining promise, there’s a much more controversial side to this, such as genetically modifying humans.
Many believe that Darwinism has died and Idiocracy will rule the earth, however this isn’t as true as perceived. Already we have selective breeding of sorts where doctors may scan pregnant women and show that their children has down syndrome or other youth disorders. Many women decide to terminate the pregnancy. Research in Britain has shown a 30% dip in down syndrome cases. This is slowly eradicating the gene to extinction.
This genetic engineering may allow parents options to choose how their children look and how intelligent they are. Letting human course run its natural path will no longer will occur as modified humans are born and inevitably pass on their genes in the population. Then there is cloning, where in sixty years it may be possible to have an army of genetically modified super soldiers. This not only hits the heart and minds of science fiction lovers, but now is truly a controversy that humanity will be debating for the rest of its existence.
Blurred lines on what is morally right and wrong haunt the idea of genetic engineering, especially in the polarized U.S. However, no matter what laws are set, humans will start adopting body modifications with or without governmental permission. Allowing a disconnect between the government and genetic research can be hazardous for everyone. So keeping a keen eye on this research may be the only road to take.
This door which humanities shoved their foot into no longer can shut. Just as inventing nuclear weapons, you can’t simply delete it. People may think “okay, let’s ban human genetic modification and cloning- it’s too dangerous.”
That’s easy to believe, but look at in another perspective. Why would you impede human progress? Let’s say with mass production in one hundred years you’ll be able to buy super sight for an easy sale of 100 dollars(no inflation). There are now no diseases and the average human life expectancies triples; people may now even look younger as scientists fight against the side effects of aging. The average human has an IQ of 135 due to wide-spread designer babies and personal preference mutation.
With genetic engineering, mankind pushes the boundaries of nature. Humans may truly create species and bring back dead ones such as the wooly mammoth. Life is truly limitless in the hands of scientists for the very first time. Humanity does gods work for him, so what’s to say we’re not gods ourselves?
Everyday, humans will have mods to themselves, anything they want or can imagine. While some will always resist this practically necessary change, slowly and over generations everyone in future existence will be changed. So, an interesting question to ask oneself is in five hundred years, will anyone weep for the ‘traditional’ Homo Sapien?