GREAT DECISIONS II
Topic: Eugenics ?? Xxxx 2009
Evolution No. 3

  I . Question page from class of June 19 class. The questions give a hint at some of the topics within Transhumanism and Eugenics.
 I I . Thoughts while reading "Redesigning Humans" .
I I I . Thoughts while reading "Genetic Engineering" .

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I . Question Page from Transhuman Class 19 June 2009

EUGENICS  ?	[I wasn't thinking of this when I suggested continued evolution, but . . . ]
A. Play God with children,  or
B. Withhold success from children
A child's rights include to be either / or
1.	Free of genetic modification
2.	Free of genetic disease
Will settlers in space differ for those who remain on earth? 
 [I am betting on these people for the salvation of the human species.]

What to Change ?
Plants: more yield, disease resistance, shorter seasons.		
Mankind :			
Genetic diseases -- long list of known or suspected. (reduce diversity?)
Longevity -- (quality of life)
Fitness	-- enhanced brain, physical coordination, range of senses, . . .
Appearance -- typical cosmetic features.  (Are big blonds only a fad?)
Social traits -- success vs. peace ; science vs. art ; action vs. innovation ; et. al.
Sex -- historic preference for males.

How to Change ?
Government or military to create a master race or super soldiers
Sterilization to eliminate flaws.  (nicer than mass extermination)
War and pestilence. (not as nice, but effective.)
"Free market eugenics" -- wealthy few vs. all others, 
	When the genetic gulf becomes wide, humans become separate species.
"Eugenic consciousness"
Common as vaccination -- add a man-made chromosome.
	What is to be included? Selection from only Jews or Mormons?
	Conservatives or Californians? Ivy League or state U?
	Equal portions of all " breeds"?
	Any problems?
	New chromosome will not interbreed except with its own kind. 
	Again, separate species.  Is this good or bad?
	History suggests man eliminates competitors.  Is this good or bad?

( more )

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1 . The paper on Evolution has much taken from my website "Mankind". Are there topics that need to be discussed?
2 . I would still like to hear discussion on human transition.
3 . And this paper on Eugenics? I was not specifically prepared for that topic and had ordered two books on that subject that only arrived during that class hour. The handout contains lots of questions. The insights of those authors will be integrated into a potential class discussion on specifics, pros and cons of Eugenics. Maybe we can determine some answers in another discussion. However, I expect that any worthy decisions on the subject will, in real life, be bastardized by political interests and government bureaucracy.
"Yes, Minister", BBC TV "BritCom" of 1970s is the most insightful look at politics -- ever!"

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II . Thoughts while reading "Redesigning Humans" by Gregory Stock, 2002.

The Last Human, when taken in the context of Transhuman Eugenics, is not such a frightenting thought. Or, is it?
Did you notice that science fiction creates multiple life forms, but the humans are exactly like us, unmodified.
And we still speak our mixed up English. Hollywood gives us no forecast of H+.
If anti-abortionists are willing to kill to be pro-life, imagine the intensity of feeling that will be aroused when the same simple-minded people discover that geneticists want to turn our children into freaks..
Imagine the effect of somebody patenting the gene that extends vision a few wavelenghts into the ultraviolet or infrared. And every other slight improvement in the human animal that you can think of; Somebody is going to claim a patent. Recall our discussion of Food in the Future where even existing foods are claimed!
The Bionic Man might be able to lift a car with his improved right arm, but what about the back muscle and legs that are also required to take that weight?
Will real people ever try gene manipulation to make improvements? Do people get cosmetic surgery?
Could a government forbid application of genetic research? China reached advanced technological states while Europe was in its Dark Ages (paper, compass, gunpowder, printing, etal.), and the religious son of Emperor Zhu Di, ordered China into isolationism, science expunged, and China stagnated under the Mandarins. [Read "1421".] Japan also has shut off all trade with the west. Strange fundamentalists in the US want to shut down stem-cell research, for which cures to inherited diseases seem likely. There is no such threat as long as their are a range of independent governments. Fear one world government.
James Watson, Nobel Prize, co-discovery of DNA -- "If we can make better humans . . . , why shouldn't we?"
Gene therapy vs. Genetic improvement? Is there a line? "The greatest opponents aren't worried that this technology will fail, but that it will succeed . . . breeding for mankind a social nightmare."
[ I tend to be a gradualist in all things. We can never foresee all of the ramifications of any one thing.
Extensive testing and well examined trials will uncover unexpected things. What is to be unexpected?.
But imagine gradually changing from driving on the left to driving on the right; cars this month, trucks next.
Is it possible to change the world at one time: Jan 2, 2020, all new children will have the approved UN chromosome?]
Will UN applicators be available in all teen's in the back of SUVs on Saturday nights?
Write a novel on cheating leading up to the changeover date and its aftermath.
What will happen to the backlog of old style babies waiting for adoption?
If 25-chromosome people can only breed with other UN embedded persons, then mixed marriages must adopt, clone, or use in vitro fertilization. Good, bad or indifferent?
"A study in Bombay reported an astounding 7,997 out of 8,000 aborted fetuses were female, ...".
[ I was confused by definitions of DNA, RNA, genes, and chromosomes. Wikipedia cleared this up : "However, in practice 'chromosome' is a rather loosely defined term."   Fortunately there is also an non-technical introduction to genetics page.
A chromosome is a package of DNA. People have 24 chromosome in each cell. A gene is a segment of a DNA molecule that defines a trait. A DNA molecule is a pattern for making proteins that make up an organism. Now we know.]
". . . slippery slope [leading to] genetically enhanced superhumans who will dominate if not enslave us."
Will genetically enhanced nations have to support the underprivileged rest of the world?
The rest of the world provides the genetic diversity required for a species to survive.
[ I suppose this means if the genetic Americans falter, then we can enhance survivors from Dufar.]
Will silicon based beings replace carbon based humans?
That is, will computer robots replace us -- IF WE DO NOT IMPROVE OURSELVES.
Emphasis is mine.
end of Chapter One - page 18.

[ Artificial Intelligence requires millions of lines of program code to address thousands of robotic problems. At some point, a technique of self learning will be developed for computer chips. At that point, exponential learning may start. It may happen too fast for human government to take any bureaucratic action. Some scientists will offer all support required by the artificial life ; they will be considered geniuses who advanced mankind or be (un)remembered as the mad scientists that destroyed life -- it all depends on the results.]
Warbots -- self firing defensive guns aboard ships, airborne unmanned missile launchers. Defense is among our most advanced uses of automated decision making. Science fiction presents menacing self awareness for a reason.
"It is not my belief that an autonomous unmanned system will be able to be perfectly ethical in the battlefield, but I am convinced that they can perform more ethically than human soldiers are capable of"   A terrorist does not wear an identifying device saying, I am a legitimate target. In fact,
Afghan policy statement by top US commander made today will exaggerate this problem by saying that US military will refrain from firing on any target that may contain civilians. Action: (a) dress like a civilian, (b) mix with civilians, (c) bring civilians into terrorist groupings, (d) hold meetings in schools and hospitals. When a terrorist meeting house is blown up with civilian casualties today, they are the cooks and concubines of the terrorists. Terror planning sessions from now on are free passes.

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III. Thoughts while reading "Genetic Engineering: Opposing Viewpoints" edited by James Toor, 2002.

INTRODUCTION: "Genetic engineering poses moral and social dilemmas every bit as daunting as the rewards are enticing."
    "Eugenics" was first coined by Sir Francis Galton in 1883, the term has come to describe "to breed better human beings" and to eliminate the "genetically unfit." It fell into disgrace when the Nazi used it to eliminate people by race.
[ Note my go slow approach. Race was not the key. Whatever we think it is today might not be either. In fact, today's top ideas just might be profitable adventured of unknown persons of great influence.]
Some interesting lines from the Book. The book is part of an Opposing Viewpoints series. See if you can tell.
• Engineering of life believers are inhuman, irresponsible, morally reprehensible, and perhaps even criminally culpable.
• Biotechnology may have a beginning, but no end.
• The marketplace that we have deified has few moral checks and balances.
  Our great research universities . . . don't want ethical considereations to limit their royalties.
• Oliver Wendal Holmes, 1927, "Three generations of imbeciles are enough."
• Every dirt-poor village in India has a sonogram so parents can distinguish boys from girls and get rid of the latter.
• Parents have the right to genetically modify their children to be.
• [Some idiots want to breed birds and animals with minimum consciousness to avoid killing conscious animals.]
• Genetic Engineering of humans is largely unethical . -- longevity, healthy, etc.?
• Genetic Engineering should be limited to genetic repair -- longevity needs to be repaired, life is too short !
• 5,000 diseases are being traced to their genetic origins.
• Each pregnancy will be thought of as tentative until the fetus has passed dozens or hundreds of genetic tests.
• What matters morally is preventing avoidable pain an suffering that actual people will have to experience { in support of termination of hopeless genetic defects -- list genetic diseases.|
• Disabilities rights advocates argue that intervention by testing and selectively terminating defective embryos would reduce the number of people with disabilities. Consequently, public support for persons with disabilites would erode and discriminate against them.
• We are not aiming to enhance or improve lives that already are, or weould be, at a decent minimum level of well-being, but only toe ensure that people we do bring into existenc will not fall well below this level.
• Human clones will simply be later-born identical twins -- nothing more and nothing less.
• Can cloning create a soul.
• Who can object to something that will allow us to live longer and have less pain.
• Cloning disrupts legal lineage -- twins, born 50 years apart, from different mothers. [We are used to unknown fathers.]
• Clones fail to vary the genotype, creates genetic stagnation. -- stopped page 106.
  Ideas from Wikipedia
• "Genius sperm bank" existed from 1980 to 1999. Nobel laureates.
• Some states require a blood test prior to marriage.
• The International Association for Voluntary Sterilization (AVS), led politicians and officials at the Office for Equal Opportunity to pay for voluntary sterilization of low income Americans for birth-control purposes. World societies also exist to support this.   Hooray
• Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said, "Frankly I had thought that at the time Roe v Wade was decided thre was concern about population growth and prarticularly grownth in population that we don't want to have too many of." Discuss.
  
  Ideas from Web If a computer program were modelled on a human brain, would we then have real ethical dilemmas ? If our 'brain' - effectively just a piece of extremely impressive computer software - could be said to know it exists, then do we assign it rights ? Would turning it off constitute murder ? Would performing experiments upon it constitute torture ?
  Read more:
  http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1205677/Are-brink-creating-human-brain.html#ixzz0NzWPu2KX

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  About this page : Handout in preparation for possible class discussion on Eugenics
  Last updated : 27June2009 9:pm
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