Morality of genetic enhancement: How will it change relationships?

With nature: Sandel's main objection revolves around humility and what he calls "the gifted aspect of life". If we can't accept who we are and what we are given, if seek to control our own nature, then we lose appreciation of who we are. He bases this argument on the ancient concept of hubris: we shouldn't play god. I will give the standard transhumanist response: people don't build skyscrapers and bridges and dams out of humility. We didn't take flight and land on the Moon out of humility. We didn't split atoms and peer into the infinity of space out of humility. We did those and other things because we wish to better ourselves, and because we can. That's who we are. To ignore this restless impulse would be to deny our very nature. Through out human history, we've been striving to increase our dominion over the world around us. It is only logical to extend that will inward, toward our own bodies and minds.

With our bodies: How do you see yourself? Is there a sacred boundary around our own bodies and our minds, one that makes them off-limits to our willful control? The boundary is becoming more and more fuzzy: most people accept vaccinations and nutritional supplements, contact lenses and pacemakers. We drink coffee and alcohol and take other mind-altering substances. We read and learn and expand our minds. While these modifications are not as permanent as genetic enhancements, they do cross over any bodily boundary.

With our children: "We do not choose our children." Sandel sees having children as an unbidden, surprising, humbling experience. Some parents choose not to learn the sex of the child before birth, because knowing would ruin that experience. Children are gifts (he shied away from using the religious term "blessing"). A parent's love should not depend on the attributes of the child. But it is because of that parental love, that some parents wish to give the best to their child. The proper analogy is not designing specific traits for an offspring like one would order a Whopper at Burger King (no mayo, no tomatoes, extra lettuce), but of three wise men bringing gifts to a new-born child.

With our parents: Will genetic enhancement burden the parents and the children with too much responsibility for their choices? A short child today can only wish that he were taller, but in the future, he might grow to resent his parents for not making him taller, or better looking, or fitting whatever fad the culture dictates. A child that's engineered to be perfect might feel inadequate if she does not succeed. We are not wholly responsible for the way we are, Sandel says, and that relieves us of some pressure. To me, that's a child-like attitude. We as adults take responsibility for the choices we make, for what we learn or fail to learn, for how we behave. People today already deal with the choices that parents made for them, like circumcision, home-schooling, and religious practice. We can blame personal problems on how we were born, or we can learn to overcome them.

In the end, these considerations should be done on a personal level. Each of us learn and grow and figure out our own identities. The government should not make policies based on these objections.

Next post will deal with how enhancement will change society as a whole.