Among them, one may single out spectral karyotyle that helps health care professionals diagnose genetic disorders. All of the Abrahamic faiths – Judaism, Christianity and Islam – share the belief that men and women have been created, to some extent, in God’s image. “The risks here of creating greater inequalities seem to be obvious,” says Todd Daly, an associate professor of theology and ethics at Urbana Theological Seminary in Champaign, Ill. “And I’m not convinced that people who get these enhancements will want to make sure everyone else eventually gets them too, because people usually want to leverage the advantages they have.”, For some thinkers, concerns about inequality go much further than merely widening the existing gap between rich and poor. In the broadest sense, the process of human enhancement can be considered as an improvement of the ‘limitations’ of a ‘natural version’ of the human species with respect to a specific reference in time, and to different environments, which can vary depending on factors such as, for example, climate change. Many of the top-grossing films in recent years in the United States and around the world have centered on superheroes with extraordinary abilities, such as the X-Men, Captain America, Spiderman, the Incredible Hulk and Iron Man. However, the potential significance of such distinction is only now, with the acceleration and impact of technological developments, becoming more evident. Among spheres of social functioning that will witness the most dramatic effects of the HGE is healthcare. As a result of the rapidity and scale with which such impact could be realized, it is essential for ethical and societal debates, as well as underlying scientific studies, to consider the unit of impact not only to the human body but also to human populations and their natural environment (systems biology). Two decades ago, the practices of human enhancement have been described as ‘biomedical interventions that are used to improve human form or functioning beyond what is necessary to restore or sustain health’ [10]. Currently, only a small number of patients have artificial hearts and the devices are used as a temporary bridge, to keep patients alive until a human heart can be found for transplant. For full access to this pdf, sign in to an existing account, or purchase an annual subscription. Today, a Chinese scientific team used CRISPR to modify the genes of twins Lulu and Nana to make them immune to HIV. However, differently from genetic engineering, domestication possesses inherent limitations in its ability to produce major transformations in the created lineages, in contrast with the many open possibilities provided by genetic engineering. According to Lutheran theologian Peters, many mainline churches will view enhancement positively because they will see aspects of it as attempts to improve human well-being and alleviate suffering. “Among those reporting low religious guidance,” explains Prof. Scheufele, “a large majority (75 percent) express at least some support for treatment applications, and a substantial proportion (45 percent) do so for enhancement applications.”, He adds, “By contrast, for those reporting a relatively high level of religious guidance in their daily lives, corresponding levels of support are markedly lower (50 percent express support for treatment; 28 percent express support for enhancement).”. “I think at some point it will be inevitable that enhanced people will see the unenhanced as subhuman,” he says. Duties of clinical geneticists consist in making diagnoses based on clinical examination of patients and their test results, including genetic testing. In the case of CCR5, we currently know that the mutation offers protection against HIV infection, and also seems to increase the risk of severe or fatal reactions to some infectious diseases, such as the influenza virus [32]. But in the minds of many philosophers, theologians and others, the idea of “designer children” veers too close to eugenics – the 19th- and early 20th-century philosophical movement to breed better people. A little more than a year later and an ocean away, scientists with the United Kingdom’s National Health Service (NHS) announced that by 2017, they plan to begin giving human subjects synthetic or artificial blood. This enhancement revolution, if and when it comes, may well be prompted by ongoing efforts to aid people with disabilities and heal the sick. “This will be a way to ensure our personal survival if something happens to our bodies,” she says. With this commentary, we explore how concepts based in evolutionary biology could contribute to better assess the implications of human germline modifications, assuming they were widely employed. With the discovery of DNA genetic codes and structures, the obsession towards them has increased and have led many to the concept of genetic reductionism- the idea that understanding the gene is adequate to comprehend all aspects of human behavior overlooking the role of environmental and social variables. Genetics is ethical when we use it to remove the cystic fibrosis gene from a newborn baby or prevent Down syndrome. We know now that beside the role genes play on biological evolution and development, genetic interventions can induce multiple effects (pleiotropy) and complex epigenetics interactions among genotype, phenotype and ecology of a certain environment. Right now, cognitive enhancement largely involves drugs that were developed and are prescribed to treat certain brain-related conditions, such as Ritalin for attention deficit disorder or modafinil for narcolepsy.
We are losing the personal touch, and forgetting the difference between healer, physician, and provider. These changes, if they occur, will upend some social norms and possibly religious norms as well. Assuming that, the human germline modification is undertaken at a global scale, this could be expected to have an effect, on the distribution of genetically heritable traits on the human population over time. On Feb. 25, 2014, President Barack Obama met with Army officials and engineers at the Pentagon to discuss plans to create a new super armor that would make soldiers much more dangerous and harder to kill. “But the dividing line for the church is the line between therapy and enhancement.”, Concerns about crossing that line already have been expressed by Catholic-affiliated organizations. Kurzweil is not the only one who thinks we are on the cusp of an era when human beings will be able to direct their own evolution. More pragmatic concerns regard safety and long-term effects of gene technologies in distant progeny, inheritable genetic modifications, or a well-known stem cell moral dilemma. The possibility of introducing unwanted mutations or DNA damage is a definite risk, and unwanted side effects cannot be predicted or controlled at the moment.
With new tools and approaches, there comes a necessity to educate and constantly update healthcare providers about ongoing genomic and genetic research and its results, as well as develop new protocols of healthcare. If this premise holds true, one could argue that evolution is no longer a force in human history and hence that any human enhancement would not be substituting itself to human evolution as a key driver for future changes. Not only is enhancement unquestionably part of today’s cultural zeitgeist, questions about humanity’s quest to move beyond natural limits go back to our earliest myths and stories. Scientists have been modifying genes for decades, but there are always trade-offs. We highlight the multiple effects associated with germline heritable genetic intervention, the need to consider the unit of impact to human populations and their natural environment, and propose that a practicable distinction between ‘therapy’ and ‘enhancement’ is needed. Other scientists successfully linked a paralyzed man’s brain to a computer chip, which helped restore partial movement of previously non-responsive limbs. The Genetics (and Ethics) of Making Humans Fit for Mars. Because human enhancement is still largely an issue for the future, it has not yet attracted a lot of attention in American religious communities.


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