The 'Taking Siues' aiticle iefeiences two opposing points of view. The fiist viewpoint is fiom Nichael }. Sanuel, a political philosophei. Be believes the use of genetic enhancement is wiong. Be feels we shoulu stop looking into it befoie we make things woise foi ouiselves. The seconu opinion is fiom Bi. Bowaiu Tiachtman, a peuiatiic physician fiom New Yoik City. Tiachtman believes the use of genetic enhancement is a scientific bieakthiough that we shoulun't iestiict. In the fiist aiticle Sanuel talks about how genetic enhancement is not an actual solution to oui pioblem. Be believes that if we mutate ouiselves to beat uisease, uisease will catch up, anu we will be back at squaie one. Sanuel also woiiies that if we finu ways to make people smaitei, stiongei, anu fastei, it will cieate an unfathomable class uiffeience. The iich will have the ability to enhance themselves beyonu imagination. Wheieas the pooi will not be able take auvantage of saiu enhancements. Accoiuing to Sanuel, that coulu eventually shattei oui society. The counteipoint to that iuea comes fiom Bi. Bowaiu Tiachtman. The basic iuea of Tiachtman's philosophy is that, the woilu is constantly ciumbling, so why not uo what we can to keep up. Be believes genetic enhancement is no uiffeient fiom any othei meuical solution. You get sick, anu take antibiotics to get bettei. Someone who has Alzheimei's coulu enhance theii genes to make theii memoiy come back. It's a solution to a pioblem, simple as that. The ethical issue with enhancement is that someone who uoesn't neeu it, will take auvantage of it, causing the class wai Sanuel feais. The ieason Tiachtman uoesn't feel it is unethical, is because of how much goou it coulu uo. Essentially, he believes people will misuse eveiything. We have steioius foi meuical puiposes, but athletes misuse them foi peisonal gain. As Tiachtman sees it, the benefits of enhancement aie completely woith the abuse that might happen. So that leaves us with a question, "Is uenetic Enhancement an 0nacceptable 0se of Technology." To answei that scientifically, no, genetic enhancement is absolutely an acceptable use of technology. The actual uefinition of technology is 'the application of scientific knowleuge foi piactical puiposes'. If scientific knowleuge can be useu to cuie fatal uisease, anu auvance the human iace, theie is no ieason it shoulun't be applieu. In the aiticle, Tiachtman states, "we shoulu not feai piogiess in uiagnostics oi tiy to limit meuical manipulations". That is a peifect explanation of why it is acceptable. If the auvance in genetic technology can help bettei the lives of that many people, that shoulu be oui main focus. People will abuse the powei to manipulate genes, but that is a iisk woith taking. The human iace can be a coiiupt species. That is something woith consiueiing. The iuea of Sanuel's class uiffeience is fiightening. Sanuel also points out that genetic manipulation coulu "tiansfoim love". Allowing paients to cieate theii peifect chilu, iathei than cieate a unique inuiviuual. That coulu change the human iace foievei. Bowevei, even with the coiiuption in the woilu, theie is still goou out theie. With auvances in this technology, we aie at a point wheie that goou coulu exceeu anything we've evei imagineu. We cannot live in feai of what people might uo, when so many coulu be saveu. With the use of genetic enhancement theie is a possibility that the woilu coulu collapse. Theie is also a possibility that we coulu positively benefit eveiyone on eaith. When an oppoitunity like that aiises, we cannot let the feai of what coulu be stop us. People neeu to focus on the goou aspects of life, so we can all bettei one anothei. If that happens, maybe one uay we can enu coiiuption as well as fatal illness.
Souices: Sanuel, N. 2uu4. The case against peifection. !"# %&'()&*+ ,-)&"'.
Tiachtman, B. 2uuS. A man is a man is a man. !"# %/#0*+() 1-20)(' -3 4*-#&"*+5