Some twenty years ago the science community reported they could replace a lost limb by growing a new one from a piece of the victims skin. The problem was, it would require an absolute vacuum for the replication to grow in a timely manner. This meant sending canisters into outer space. Not very practical or cost efficient, but time has a way of answering questions and finding the way to an end.
The ability of medical science to replace a failing heart, liver, kidney, or even a lost limb would be beneficial to all of our civilized world. Medical sciences duty is to increase the caliber of life; even if the increase is via breast implants, tummy tucks, and nose jobs. Doctors can now replace a persons face in the event of an animal attack or traffic accident. They also have the ability to reconnect a severed limb or reconstruct a jaw, all noble and admirable feats.
To say humanity is satisfied with simply knowing they can doX, Y and Z is like giving a child ten dollars and telling them not to buy candy as you leave them alone in the candy store. The question here is not weather science has the ability to go beyond today but rather, should they? The next question then would be, what are the long range ramifications.
Any claims about tomorrow would be pure speculation and or conjecture at this point; educated or not. Nonetheless, people have been doing just this for some time. The proclamations by the general public have been in my opinion, uneducated and unfounded spoken through the fear of the unknown. This has been true for every radical advancement society has weathered through out history. But the question, just because we can should we, still remains.
Would Marry Shelly stand up from her grave long enough to say I tried to warn you?
In her story Frankenstein, the monster makes a comment to the effect of, Victor Frankenstein is his father. It doesn’t take a degree in literature to figure out the monster was comparing Frankenstein to God.
Today is a new horizon in the medical field of DNA research. We have replicated more than a new arm or finger. The replication of animals has become, wellwhat’s next? We are successfully unlocking the secrets of the gene pool which will mean no more diet pills, Parkinson, low IQ’s, or any of a vast number of human flaws.
I believe we should move forward in the face of what’s to come and hope the future does not find a medical research vassal floating just outside of regulated space. I believe in humanity and humanities ability to learn from its past regardless of popular opinion.
