Human intellect is pushing the limits of natural selection and creating new life forms through genetic engineering and biotechnology. These technologies offer great promise, but they also raise ethical questions and responsibilities.
What do you think is the greatest power of humans? Most people would answer “intellect”. The picture of our evolution over time from monkeys to humans is best illustrated by natural selection, the theory that organisms evolve over time in ways that favor their survival. On a planet where only natural selection has been allowed to evolve, human “intellect” is making a difference. Our intellect has gone beyond using tools and developing language to redesigning and recreating nature itself.
For example, a picture of a mouse growing an ear made of cow cartilage on its back is no longer a fantasy, like the chimeras of Greco-Roman mythology. As humans began to study the genes of individuals, they realized how to manipulate them. As humans began to shape individuals to their liking, a different theory of supportive design than natural selection began to emerge. This supportive design led to revolutionary changes not just in the appearance of organisms, but also in their function.
There are three ways in which natural selection can be explained as intelligent design: first, biotechnology, second, cyborg engineering, and third, non-organic engineering. A cyborg is a combination of organic and inorganic matter. Organics are substances that contain carbon (C), while inorganics are nutrients that do not contain carbon (C). These three approaches offer ways for humans to go beyond nature and create new forms of life.
Technologies centered around biotechnology always raise ethical questions. Scientists’ attempts to replace nature’s role with science have come as a shock to many people, and many animal rights activists have taken issue with animals being experimented on against their will. Human rights activists fear that genetic engineering will create beings that dominate humans. As a result, we tend to only genetically engineer plants, fungi, bacteria, and insects. Genes from E. coli and several species of fungi have been manipulated to produce insulin, which helped democratize the treatment of diabetes. Genes from Arctic fish have been used to create frost-resistant potatoes.
Genetic manipulation is not limited to living organisms. It’s easy to find the genetic map of a mammoth in the Siberian ice and swap it with the DNA of a fertilized egg from a living elephant, then put it back into the womb of a female elephant. Similarly, we could find the genetic map of a Neanderthal and create a Neanderthal baby. Due to their superior physical abilities, Neanderthals would be more desirable in a variety of fields, including manufacturing, which could redefine the idea of the human labor force. These technological advances are of great interest and controversy, not only to scientists but also to the general public.
These advantages that biotechnology can bring to humans are the reason why it is being studied so much, despite the myriad of opposition. Eventually, genetic manipulation, which has been limited to fungi, insects, and other organisms, will advance to human subjects, and we as Homo sapiens will likely be transformed. At the same time, however, we should be increasingly aware of the ethical and social problems that these technologies can cause.
On the other hand, biotechnology doesn’t always bring good results. After all, it’s the people who do the research that are responsible for the problems. Most of the time, there are a lot of ethical issues, and despite the fact that there have been successful results in cloning animals, etc. Of course, there would be a lot of international criticism and backlash from human rights organizations. It may be a movie, but if we create a perfect organism that surpasses humans, unimaginable things will happen, and the time is coming when it is not just a movie. Or maybe we have the technology, but we’re not trying.
I am also majoring in bioengineering, so I sometimes think about this, but the result is always the same. It seems like you either start or you finish, and research in particular is very rarely abandoned. Unless you’ve invested years and years and not gotten any results, you don’t stop doing research because you’re getting enough results. In the end, if you start research and the technology is there, the results are up to you, and as mentioned above, if the generation that created the problem doesn’t solve it, it will continue to be passed on to future generations. I sometimes think that the problem of biomedical research is similar to that of nuclear fuel. I think that the problem of spent nuclear waste and the problem of biotechnology research are similar.
After all, human intellectual capacity gives us unlimited possibilities and deep responsibility. Scientific discoveries and technological advancements hold great promise for the future, but they also bring with them inevitable ethical and social challenges. We must never forget that the power of human agency is the greatest and most dangerous power of all.
