Up@dawn 2.0

Thursday, September 13, 2012

Where Do We Draw the Line on Enhancement? S13; G4


I apologize for the tardiness of my post.  Last class, my group and I discussed sports and enhancement techniques.  We discussed how using these techniques would diminish the awe that natural talent brings about in an audience.  Using enhancement technologies in sports would dramatically change the way we thought about human accomplishment. The use of this technology would turn the game in to a completely different game—who has the best genetically engineered abilities?  Who has more money to buy their talents?  Matthew argues that either way, athletics are about money.   If genetic engineering in athletics became popular, standards would shift upward in society and amazing would become the new average.  Records would be easily shattered and continue doing so.  Human advancement could certainly plateau under these conditions; while it may also continue advancing. We figured there would have to exist two separate competitions for each sport—one that included “athletes” with these engineered abilities; and another which included real athletes, with 100% natural talent.  This is the only way the game could be fair.   We also discussed the pressure and responsibility this puts upon parents.  We wandered in discussion to enhancement in all abilities, rather than just sports.  What if my mother decided I would be a singer and genetically engineered my voice at birth, but I grew up to want to be a lawyer? How should my parents have the ability to create and shape who I am going to be? Is it not up to me to make my own decisions and decide who I would like to become?  Doing this to your children will also give them the mentality that they are superior and do not need to care about other things that have high importance, simply because they already know what they are “supposed” to be doing.  This eliminates the thrill, mystery, and point of life.   We determined that similar to wealthy parents not spoiling their children now, there will be wealthy parents who will give their children these abilities, but also those who will not.  However, they may understand that their children will never amount to anything if they choose not to genetically engineer them.  Caitlyn discusses her faith in God; despite competition caused by genetic engineering.  We discussed the role these enhancements would play in the economy.  Would they stimulate or crash the economy?  We determined that nobody would want to be engineered to do the lower class jobs that are necessary, which would make everything about money, and leave no room for breaking the chain of poorness for poor people.  These people would never be able to succeed.  For the wealthy, it would be much easier to buy one’s fame, increasing competition dramatically.  Where would the line be drawn in using this technology to “genetically program” a child? This is a situation of moral relativity—Health and safety vs. cosmetic and popularity.  Who has the right to make a call like this?  It is extremely difficult to legislate morality.  We concluded by discussing the fact that there are no stances we would hold to unswervingly.  It is important to keep an open mind and see that everything is situational.

-Arielle Roides (PHIL 1030-13)

4 comments:

  1. My personal argument about refusing to enhance my child that Arielle mentioned is that even though my child would be "less talented" by a worldly standard, I believe God would give them the tools to succeed despite the hardships. Also, I feel that if sports did become a game of enhancements, I would watch them less than I do now. If that did happen, I also support the idea that we should have two separate leagues.
    Nehmas speaks on an interesting topic, friendship. This topic was pretty relevant for me because I have recently experienced falling out of friendship with some people. It is really not any one person's fault, and it all happened rather peacefully and silently. However, there is no denying that it did happen. The major cause (I have believed and this book confirmed) is that I have changed; it says that we often do not notice ourselves changing, but I do noticed. My friend, however, has stayed very much the same which at times caused tension. We are still kind and talk occasionally, but it is interesting to think that perhaps she no longer truly likes the person I am. Frienships shape our lives so much, I really liked the quote "I believe that both kinds of values, the values of commonality and the values of individuality, are absolutely crucial in life."(-Nehamas) I think friendships allow us to appreciate other's individual gifts and personalities as well as learn more about and shape ourselves. I also liked the metaphor of the paintings.
    What other benefits can friendships give us?
    What has caused you to fall out of a friendship?
    What does Nehamas say philosophers have focused too much on? (commonality and valuing people equally)
    --Caitlyn Osborne

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  2. Natalie Ricketts10:40 AM CDT

    When we discussed child engineering, I agree with Caitlyn. My reasons for not wanting to participate in such a thing as this would be because I would feel that would be going against God. God already has purpose for every individual and they are given gifts and blessings for this. If we are to change that around, we are taking that responsibility into our own hands. I can’t help but believe that we would regret ever doing it because we do not know what is best for us. We only know what we want and that is definitely not always what God wants.
    As far as human enhancements go, I would say that although there were some good arguments brought up in class, I think that these ruin the game. These sports have existed and even expanded over decades. People still watch and are entertained by the human talent that is displayed; they don’t wish for a bunch of guys on performance enhancing drugs to be in the games. The sports are better with pure talent. Our society is built around individuality and selfishness, and everyone just has to be ‘the best’. This argument also ties into what I mentioned previously about parents genetically engineering their children.
    Our next topic is friendship. I found some of Nehamas’ ideas quite interesting and that I have never thought of some of that so deeply before. I really like how he pointed out that our friends contribute largely to the person that we become, whether we want it to work that way or not and whether we notice it or not. Reading this, it is more clear to me now why some of my past friendships have ended. People change dramatically in college and high school friends, in my opinion, must be very connected or similar to survive that. I also like the statement he made that it can be no less painful to fall out of a friendship than to fall out of a love affair. That is quite interesting and based on my experiences, I think I would agree.
    Why does he state that falling out of a friendship is almost equally as painful as falling out of love?
    What would it look like to stay in a friendship with someone after one of you changes?
    What are two reasons Nehamas gives for a friendship falling apart? (you have changed or they have changed)

    --Natalie Ricketts

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  3. Although I think it would be awesome to make our children super human I can't get away from thinking how terrible the effects could be. Friendship: after reading about how friends shape your whole life it really got me thinking of where I would be right now without my friends. I think we could ask in our group if we think that friends really do play as big of a role in our lifes as Nechemas thinks.

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  4. Amanda Gargano2:30 AM CDT

    I believe that we were all made for a reason. If the world got carried away with genetic engineering, and designer babies began to spring up everywhere, I believe that this world would fall to pieces. It is hard to say exactly what would happen, but I believe that a whole new social class would arise. It would no longer be rich, middle class and poor, but it would be priveleged, rich, middle class, and poor. The priveleged class would have the same benefits as the rich, but they would not have to work as hard for them. When it comes to sports enhancement, I believe that so many people will begin to use it, that no one will have any true talents anymore. I think that enhanced athletes would become the new average athlete. After reading the friendship chapter I really began to analyze what actually makes someone a true friend. It led me to think about how much our friends actually shape who we are. It causes me to wonder how much different I would be if some of the friends I have today, had never been born. My two questions are, how does Nehamas describe the overall value of friendship, and What do you think classifies someone as a true friend?

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