This article explores philosophical and scientific definitions of human beings and explains that genes may play a role in determining our abilities and destiny. It also discusses the social and ethical issues that arise when personalized humans become possible, emphasizing the relationship between genes and effort.
When it comes to defining what it means to be a person or human being, the answer to the question, “Which method would you use?” often depends on the individual’s values and level of learning. For example, a philosophical approach to human beings might be that we are the only animals on Earth that have the will and reason to go against our instincts. On the other hand, a scientific approach might define a person as an organism composed of 78% H2O and 20% carbohydrates, along with other chemicals such as proteins and fats.
There are many different ways to define a person, and different approaches can lead to different understandings of what it means to be human. For example, a psychological perspective centers on the structure of the human mind and heart, while a cultural perspective centers on the roles and relationships people have within their society and culture. There are endless ways to define people, and each approach sheds light on different aspects of humanity. In the realm of art and literature, people are understood differently. In literature, human beings are sometimes expressed through extreme emotion and anguish, while art explores the complexity of human beings through their creativity and sensitivity.
There are many other ways to define a person, but as an engineering student majoring in chemical engineering, if I define a person as the latter of the aforementioned, then genes are something we are bound to encounter. Since we have a scientific approach to human beings, we can think of the vital activities that humans must perform in order to live as a collection of chemical reactions, and it is genes that regulate all these chemical reactions. Therefore, understanding human beings means understanding genes, so I would like to briefly mention genes first.
Understanding genes is essential to understanding not just our physical characteristics, but also many other factors such as our behavior, personality, and even the development of disease. Genes are an important factor in determining what we can and cannot do. For example, understanding and preventing the development of diseases that are determined by genetic factors is one of the major research challenges in modern medicine. In this context, it is important to understand how deeply genes affect human life.
As mentioned earlier, genes are like musical scores that regulate vital activities (digestion, metabolism, etc.) that are essential for the continuation of human life. If you think of the vital activities in each part of the body as instruments in an orchestra, it is the score that determines which instruments need to play in which situations to achieve the overall harmony, and genes are actually the score of human life. Just as it’s hard to imagine an orchestra playing without a score, there is no human life without genes. Therefore, humans have evolved to safeguard their genes and pass them on to the next generation, and for this reason, genes are often thought of as the determinants of our destiny.
The study of genes is becoming increasingly advanced, and this research is providing deeper insights into human life by understanding their structure and function. For example, advances in gene editing technology, CRISPR-Cas9, have opened up the possibility of treating or preventing diseases by manipulating the function of specific genes. Advances in these technologies will enable personalized medicine in the future, which will have a significant impact on human health and well-being. However, the use of these technologies also brings with it ethical issues, and this is one of the most important issues to be discussed across society.
Due to the importance of genes, there are situations where genes are becoming a determining factor in a person’s abilities. A prime example is the case of Einstein. Einstein is remembered as a historical genius recognized by the entire world. And when his brain was dissected and preserved after his death, it was found that the activated areas of his brain were slightly larger than those of other normal people, which can only be interpreted as a genetic factor, so we can assume that Einstein was genetically destined to become a genius.
A similar example to Einstein’s case can be seen on TV every four years. Speaking of once every four years, it’s the Olympics, which you’d expect. The Olympics brings together people of many different races to compete in sportsmanship, and even if you don’t watch the games, many people can easily predict the nationalities of the people who compete based on the names of the events: Asian, African, European, etc. For example, in the case of athletics, which is arguably the most fundamental test of human athleticism, it’s easy to see that at least 80% to 90% of the participants are black. It’s not as if athletics is limited to people of African descent, and the finals of almost every type of track and field event boil down to an all-black showdown. Sadly, this is largely determined by genetics and not by individual effort. Black people of African descent are genetically determined to have strong muscles and incredible elasticity. That’s why, no matter how much effort people of other races put in, they can’t beat trained African athletes.
Looking at these two examples, it seems as if genes determine the direction and capabilities of an individual’s life, and if you have superior genes, you can lead a successful life. Therefore, if biotechnology is now so advanced that parents can control the genes of newborn babies like the situation in the movie Gattaca, and if each reader of this article is a parent, what kind of child would you like to have? The disaster starts with the situation itself, when parents can decide what their ideal child should be. A classic example is the sex ratio issue. If the majority of people wanted sons, but only daughters, extreme social chaos would ensue as people would not be able to find marriage partners. Can a libertarian government regulate this so that people have an equal number of sons and daughters?
Now let’s assume that we can control the sex ratio through social consensus, and that the decision between a son or a daughter is made according to the parents’ preferences. All that’s left is to envision the future of the child and match the genes to it. From a parent’s point of view, they might want their child to be good-looking, athletic, good-natured, good at school, not a drinker, not a troublemaker, and so on and so forth. If readers could actually become parents and determine the genes of their children, it is unlikely that they would imagine a child who is good at sports but not good at studying, or a child with a good personality but an ugly face, in balance with other people.
Then, when readers take the lead and live in a society, the society will be full of people who are the ultimate, with faces like bread pits, athleticism like Lionel Messi, personalities like Buddha, and studies like Einstein. If society becomes homogenized, there will be a collapse of self-identity. Identity itself is not something that changes, but something specific that only you have and that you are defined by, and the question arises as to how an individual can define themselves if there is no difference between themselves and others, if they have no unique characteristics. If self-identity is destroyed, there will be no self-esteem, so life will become passive, and the development of society as a whole will decline as people simply live according to their parents’ wishes. The question of how to convince our passive descendants of the value of basic human values such as hard work and self-improvement remains unanswered, and the irony of the social degeneration that will occur when people with both Einstein’s brain and athletic physical abilities are brought together is not lost on me.
Above, we’ve discussed some of the problems that would arise if a customized human were possible. These problems might make some people feel disappointed that customized humans are not possible. However, even if a person’s genetics are perfect for a customized human, it doesn’t necessarily mean that they will have a successful life. This was seen firsthand in the movie Kataka. In order to fulfill his dream of becoming an astronaut, the protagonist hides his genetic deficiencies with someone else’s genes and gets a chance to join a company where he has to work hard and develop his passion and ability to fly in space. Of course, the movie doesn’t specifically discuss the main character’s efforts to fulfill his dream, but given the general state of society, it’s easy to imagine how hard he had to work. In the movie’s hypothetical world, almost everyone except the protagonist is a genetically engineered, customized human being with a brain and body far superior to his or her own. They join the same company as the protagonist because they have the same dream of spaceflight as the protagonist, which means that the protagonist has overcome adverse conditions and genetically superior coworkers to get the chance to fly in space. This suggests that it’s not genes or talent that determine a person’s ability, but rather their passion and commitment to their dreams.
In the movie, the protagonist confesses to the woman he has fallen in love with that he is not actually genetically engineered, exclaiming, “I had a 90% chance of dying at 30 from heart disease, but I’m still alive.” Isn’t this a cry of self-realization that her passion and hard work have come to fruition without being betrayed by a society that presents only one factor, genetics, as the absolute standard for judgment? Although the specific situation is different, in the big picture, I think modern society is not so different from the assumptions made in the movie. There are many social statuses that are disappearing now, but there are still many social statuses that act like genes in the movie, such as education, delay, and blood relation, which put a curtain on one’s abilities. Even though society is wrong, many people, including myself, would like to see a future where Vincent Freeman is able to fulfill his dreams as best as he can despite the adverse circumstances.
