I am currently enrolled in a course at Wittenberg called Relational Communication and as I enter the third week of class, I am already being intellectually challenged by this class. A recent assignment was to read an article from the magazine, Scientific American, titled "What Will Become of Homo Sapiens?" This title, you may be thinking to yourself, is rather precarious in nature. It is something not many people think about; the evolution of the human race. As it says in the article, some people believe that the human race is done evolving due to modern technology and medicine that allows us to live longer and reproduce more successfully. However, others believe that modern technology like genetic modification will ultimately create a new species of human. What? A new species of human? Yes, that is what I said. The author of the article, Peter Ward, is an expert in paleontology and mass extinctions. He stated that if humans begin to genetically modify their unborn children so that they live longer and are seemingly healthier, that generation of children will evolve into a new species of human; a more intelligent and longer-living species who will only want to reproduce with others like them. Today, genetic modification is surrounded by questions of ethics and is possibly still considered taboo when dealing with altering human genes. At first, it was difficult for me to understand this article because of its' complicated and abstract nature. But as I thought about it more, I realized that Ward's theory may be a tad extreme but it may have some truth to it. Are we allowing technology to interfere with natural human processes that could potentially effect the future of our species? Human genetic modification walks a very fine line between pursuing technological/medicinal breakthroughs and allowing the creation of the "perfect" child, an already an ethically charged topic in today's society. So I guess the question to ask is, what will become of humans if we continue down this technologically driven path where ultimately even our genetic make-up is determined by fellow humans? According to Ward, we will have a new species of human amongst us.
I love the idea here, Jessica. As college students, you and your classmates should be getting exposed to fascinating, surprising ideas all the time. Why not share those ideas, and your obvious sense of wonder, in a blog?
ReplyDeleteThat said -- look at your "lead." The amazing idea here is that there may be new species of humans evolving, but you bury that under several lines about yourself and the class. I do want to know that information, but first grab my attention with the news, then tell me where it came from, etc.
I LOVE Scientific American. The crazy thing about genetically modifying fetuses is that; although we aren't quite able to do it yet, new technology allows parents to screen for birth defects such as down syndrome within the first trimester. The timing is important because it means that parents have time to make the decision of wether or not to abort the child still at this time. Some are worried that this could lead to future dilemmas as the question develops into what makes a defect? Autism or red hair? Personally I think the technology gives way to a tyrant to create a specific race of nearly identical people.
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