The advances in technology are unprecedented. – what one used to think could never happen is now happening right before our very eyes and has even become integral parts of our daily lives. In the past, people could not imagine seeing moving images in a black box, and now satellite dishes transmit television shows and sporting events simultaneously as they are occurring across over on the other side of the globe.
Similarly, technology has advanced many aspects of our lives – not just the means of communication and gadgets, and all that jazz. Technology has led to advancements in science and medicine that could has had enormous impact on people even though its development is not yet complete. Human enhancement and stem cell research has emerged in the past decade, with promises of letting mankind overcome the limitations of their own bodies. Yet, this has raised much controversy and fears on the part of some people, and these fears are not unfounded, even as they promise to improve the human biology.
Stem cell research is definitely the one topic that has garnered the most attention and controversy in recent years. As stem cells can potentially be differentiated into any type of cell in the human body, they have the capacity to be used as a treatment to damage done to parts of the body such as the brain, spinal cord and muscles. It could also potentially be used to treat degenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s Disease.
Yet, despite the promise of stem cell research, it has attracted many detractors. Stem cell research, in the process of creating human embryonic stem cell lines, destroys human embryos which were originally created for in-vitro fertilization but not used. Pro-life activists have slammed this, claiming it to be tantamount to murder, as it violated the sanctity of life.
Technological advances in science and medicine has also spawned human genetic engineering, where humans are genetically engineered by modifying the genotype of an unborn individual to control the traits that it will possess when it is born. Thus, not only can parents can now decide the sex of their unborn babies, but they can also in the future decide that their unborn child should have better brain or lung capacity, among other things. Of course, critics have also hit out at this, asserting that genetic engineering interferes with the normal course of human life, which they consider to be sacrosanct.
Personally, I feel that stem cell research is a breakthrough in medical science that should be embraced by one and all. It has offered us so many options to improve our lives, given that one has the economic viability. While it has to be conceded that it does indeed interfere with the nature course of human life, it could save us from potentially fatal or incapacitating situations, such as when we were paralysed in an accident. Stem cell research could give us another chance at life, should our bodies be incapacitated under any circumstance. The destruction of embryos in stem cell research, in my opinion, is attracting more controversy then it should. An embryo, though having the potential to develop into a full-fledged human being, is nevertheless not human yet. The sanctity of life should only be considered when life is in the form of a human being, or a fully-developed foetus. Life starts at pregnancy, or when a foetus is created, not in the form of a cell or an embryo. Human genetic engineering, in my opinion, while beneficial to parents, may be rather unnecessary. By dictating the sex of your unborn child, rather than waiting to find out whether it would be a girl or boy, it would very much take away the essence of normal pregnancy and childbirth. Then again, I do feel that the cloning, or serial cloning of humans would be pushing the limit. It will seriously threaten the individuality of mankind – after all, how would you feel about yourself if there are twenty other people looking exactly like you out there?
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