Maybe I'm the one here that's too dumb, but in all honesty, I can't quite see how the septuplets relate to the human genome project. I can see that the rampant use of fertility drugs by couples unwilling to pare their viable embryos down to one or two is a hazard of technology, but it doesn't seem like quite the same issue. What I mean is this: if a couple, through the use of fertility drugs, chooses to birth 5 or 6 or even 9 children at a time, it is a contained, small-scale problem. At best, the couple bares healthy offspring and can manage to provide food and medical care for their brood. At worst, the parents can't provide for the children at all, the babies have divers medical problems and the entire family must rely on state and federal aid in order to survive at even a sub-standard level. Now, I'm not suggesting that this isn't a problem in itself, but it seems to me that for those who oppose genetic tampering (I'm not one of these) the problems are of a more serious nature. The argument made in this piece and others is that it is the very philosophical, spiritual, and communal nature of our species that will be affected for the worse should genetic alteration become the norm. No matter how much I don't agree with or believe in this particular position, I do take it seriously. Discussion and thought on these topics is essential if we are to prevent the Gattica-type world mentioned. However, using mostly unrelated examples like the septuplets make you sound more like a crazed "science=evil; granola=good" technology hater than a person seriously interested in either the exchange of ideas or the state of our transforming world. just one girl's opinion
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Maybe I'm the one here that's too dumb, but in all honesty, I can't quite see how the septuplets relate to the human genome project. I can see that the rampant use of fertility drugs by couples unwilling to pare their viable embryos down to one or two is a hazard of technology, but it doesn't seem like quite the same issue. What I mean is this: if a couple, through the use of fertility drugs, chooses to birth 5 or 6 or even 9 children at a time, it is a contained, small-scale problem. At best, the couple bares healthy offspring and can manage to provide food and medical care for their brood. At worst, the parents can't provide for the children at all, the babies have divers medical problems and the entire family must rely on state and federal aid in order to survive at even a sub-standard level. Now, I'm not suggesting that this isn't a problem in itself, but it seems to me that for those who oppose genetic tampering (I'm not one of these) the problems are of a more serious nature. The argument made in this piece and others is that it is the very philosophical, spiritual, and communal nature of our species that will be affected for the worse should genetic alteration become the norm. No matter how much I don't agree with or believe in this particular position, I do take it seriously. Discussion and thought on these topics is essential if we are to prevent the Gattica-type world mentioned. However, using mostly unrelated examples like the septuplets make you sound more like a crazed "science=evil; granola=good" technology hater than a person seriously interested in either the exchange of ideas or the state of our transforming world. just one girl's opinion