John Harris suggests that with the advent of genetic recoding,CRISPR, technology we will be able to erradicate diseases that negatively impact the human condition. This discovery is monumentally exciting, it could be used in so many ways to benefit so many creatures. If we were able to get rid of malaria, deunge and other harmful diseases carried by mosquitos we could prevent millions of people from dying, and allow people with great exposure to mosquitos to be at peace and live without constant fear. It is however terrifying not knowing the unintended cascade consequences, with the advent of this technology we have no idea what releasing genetically modified mosquitos into nature would do to the planet the mosquitos or any of the other inhabitants. If we were to release these genetically modified mosquitos we could end up with new viruses and diseases that we known even less about and could be even more catastrophic to the populations.
See, I have a very difficult time answering this question because I am still having a quite large internal battle over it. On one hand, altering humans genetic sequences could allow us to eradicate horrible diseases and illnesses that render people unable to perform daily necessary tasks for success. If we were able to rid people of these diseases we could potentially design a happier and healthier human race. But on the other side of that coin is the scary possibilities that altering the genetics of humans is unethical and degrading the issues that people have been able to overcome in the past without genetic engineering. This question presents way too many questions for me to answer in a short amount of time. Should we use genetic modification in humans? I don’t know. Is it ethical? What are the potential outcomes? What level would we genetically modify people to? Where would it start and end? This reminds me of Hitler’s vision, a perfect Arian race of humans destined for greatness.. I don’t know what we should and shouldn’t be able to do.