The Dodo never had a chance. He seems to have been invented for the sole purpose of becoming extinct and that was all he was good for ~ Will Cuppy
So the question is - should we intervene with our genetic code?
There are those who argue that it is not our place, but nature's to improve our existence. However, from the first time the ancient caveman started digging up roots to try to cure illnesses…from the first time that it was discovered that willow bark will reduce fever…man has taken his own destiny into his own hands. Is this not the basis of what makes humans so very different then animals? The ability to change our destiny?
We are not the meek Dodo that died out so quickly. Physically speaking, Homo sapiens are inferior to most animals. We do not have sharp claws, warm fur nor poisonous fangs. We do not have sonar detention, night vision, nor supersonic hearing. The only thing that rises Homo sapiens as a species - has been the ability to adapt and innovate.
Nowadays thanks to advancements of medicine humans live longer. The longer we live the weaker is influence of natural selection on next generations. Previously, thanks to natural selection some diseases would cease to exist because all infected would die not having enough time to produce equally infected offspring. We need to realize that only genetic engineering is way out of this deadlock. We have already won over nature in the process of "natural selection" - the only viable way to improve the human race, is through genetic manipulation.
Technology of human race has been developing with huge speed but ideology has not. The human intellect has been developing quickly but human physical construction has not changed meaningfully for latest over 50,000 years. While mankind digests more or less the same ideas related to ethics, morality and other ideologies; technology develops itself with rampant speed. In simple terms, human hardware (the physical body) is not changing at all and therefore, human software (mind) has significant development limitations.
So what about God.
Religion is about beliefs, about awareness what is good and what is bad. Religion is about God. Genetic engineering is about the basic construction of life: the genetic code, in cooperation with environment, determines what we are. We do not play God by further and further developing such powerful technology as genetic engineering! By thinking that genetic engineering is equivalent to playing God -- the same argument can be made about medical doctors who heal their patients.
Humans practice genetic engineering in form of selective breeding of animals and plants for thousands and thousands of years. No religion says that selective breeding is bad or even unnatural. In the same way, genetic engineering based on tweaking of genetic code - a more effective method of doing what humans have been doing for thousands of years. There can be no comparison between this and playing God.
The world is quickly changing - society, the environment, and the growth of mankind. Genetic manipulation gives mankind to eradicate the illnesses and the diseases of the world. Producing more effective humans. The fear by many that "Homo-sapiens" will be made extinct by a race of "Homo-superior" is just the fantasy of the comic books.
Mankind has not remained stagnant throughout its existence. We as a race have evolved and grown to be the "modern man" that we are now. Genetic manipulation allows us the next step in the evolutionary path, without waiting the tens of thousands of years for that to occur.
The race of Homo sapiens is not based on just a genetic code. It is also the influence of society the environment around us, and our sense of community. As Buddha proclaims - all that we are, is the result of what we have thought.
Why be limited by outdated ideas of morality?
Fight the fate of the Dodo…