Post by Kahlessa on Sept 16, 2007 14:15:21 GMT -5
Would you want a child who doesn’t talk back?
(I posted this on the Crichton board already but I thought I would post it here as well.)
There’s an interesting section on the fictional company website Michael Crichton created to promote Next.
www.nextgencode.com/
(I can’t give you an exact link. Click on “About Us” and then click on “Our Staff”.)
In the “Our Staff” section of the website is this profile:
“At Nextgencode, I give parents the children they always wanted.”
Melinda Johnson, M.D., FACP, PhD Epigenetics
“Melinda specializes in somatic cell reprogramming and embryonic morphogenesis to prevent inherited diseases and birth defects. Want to choose your children’s eye color, height, intelligence? Want a kid that doesn’t talk back? Contact Dr. Johnson for our latest offerings.”
(Disclaimer: I myself do not have children, though as a former teacher, I had extensive interaction with other people’s children. For this essay, I consulted friends who have children.)
Once at the bookstore, a co-worker and I were working at the customer service desk, helping people find books. A woman asked if we had any books on choosing your baby’s sex. The computer indicated we did have two books on that topic in the store and I took the customer to them. When I returned, my co-worker, who has several children and grandchildren, commented, “I hope she realizes that even if she can choose the baby’s sex, that’s the last thing she’ll have complete control over.”
When it comes to genetic engineering, there are two vital questions to ask:
Can it be done?
Should it be done?
Can it be done?
Is it possible to genetically engineer a child to behave in a specific manner?
The connection between genetics and behavior is highly speculative, which Crichton makes clear in Next on pp. 211-213:
“Despite what you hear, no one has ever proven a single gene causes a single human behavioral trait,” Professor William Garfield. In other words, there is no verifiable link between DNA and behavior.
This point is made in Jurassic Park, pp. 333-334, when the scientist Dr. Wu thinks:
“You couldn’t look at a DNA sequence and predict behavior. It was impossible.”
Should it be done?
Even if it could be done, should it be done?
Is it a desirable thing to predetermine your child’s behavioral traits? I think not.
Show me a child who never talks back, and in time, I’ll show you an adult who has to be pushed through revolving doors. Often the qualities in a child that drive parents and teachers crazy, are the qualities that help a person excel once maturity and sound judgment are added to the mix.
A woman I know with three sons said, “Anyone who feels the need to genetically engineer children so they don’t talk back isn’t ready to be a parent.”
Is being a parent about raising a child to meet your expectations? Or is it about appreciating a child for whoever he or she is? Right now, parents have to learn to live with the child they have, rather than the child they expected or thought they wanted.
Crichton, in his speech “Science Policy in the 21st Century”, compares children to complex systems:
“It doesn't work to manage complex systems according to a philosophical view.
Now, I would say that we all know this. Because the one complex system that almost all of us have knowledge of is children. And anybody who just applies Democratic or Republican principles to their kids and then walks away will soon be visiting those kids in jail. Complex systems require continuous interaction. You have to be watching constantly; you have to be adjusting and revising; as the system does this, you do that. And it's a never-ending process-these days, really never ending.”
If parents can genetically engineer their children (or attempt to), that would create expectations that parents currently may not have. And this could lead to conflict, stress and disappointment between parent and child. One mother said, “You could genetically engineer a boy to have great scientific ability or musical ability. You could still end up with a kid who would rather play baseball.”
If a parent spent the money to genetically engineer a child to be a certain way, then the parent may not only be very disappointed, he or she loses out on the joy of discovering who the child truly is and what makes the child happy. After all, the secret of enjoying life is not so much getting what you think you want, but loving and appreciating what you have.
(I posted this on the Crichton board already but I thought I would post it here as well.)
There’s an interesting section on the fictional company website Michael Crichton created to promote Next.
www.nextgencode.com/
(I can’t give you an exact link. Click on “About Us” and then click on “Our Staff”.)
In the “Our Staff” section of the website is this profile:
“At Nextgencode, I give parents the children they always wanted.”
Melinda Johnson, M.D., FACP, PhD Epigenetics
“Melinda specializes in somatic cell reprogramming and embryonic morphogenesis to prevent inherited diseases and birth defects. Want to choose your children’s eye color, height, intelligence? Want a kid that doesn’t talk back? Contact Dr. Johnson for our latest offerings.”
(Disclaimer: I myself do not have children, though as a former teacher, I had extensive interaction with other people’s children. For this essay, I consulted friends who have children.)
Once at the bookstore, a co-worker and I were working at the customer service desk, helping people find books. A woman asked if we had any books on choosing your baby’s sex. The computer indicated we did have two books on that topic in the store and I took the customer to them. When I returned, my co-worker, who has several children and grandchildren, commented, “I hope she realizes that even if she can choose the baby’s sex, that’s the last thing she’ll have complete control over.”
When it comes to genetic engineering, there are two vital questions to ask:
Can it be done?
Should it be done?
Can it be done?
Is it possible to genetically engineer a child to behave in a specific manner?
The connection between genetics and behavior is highly speculative, which Crichton makes clear in Next on pp. 211-213:
“Despite what you hear, no one has ever proven a single gene causes a single human behavioral trait,” Professor William Garfield. In other words, there is no verifiable link between DNA and behavior.
This point is made in Jurassic Park, pp. 333-334, when the scientist Dr. Wu thinks:
“You couldn’t look at a DNA sequence and predict behavior. It was impossible.”
Should it be done?
Even if it could be done, should it be done?
Is it a desirable thing to predetermine your child’s behavioral traits? I think not.
Show me a child who never talks back, and in time, I’ll show you an adult who has to be pushed through revolving doors. Often the qualities in a child that drive parents and teachers crazy, are the qualities that help a person excel once maturity and sound judgment are added to the mix.
A woman I know with three sons said, “Anyone who feels the need to genetically engineer children so they don’t talk back isn’t ready to be a parent.”
Is being a parent about raising a child to meet your expectations? Or is it about appreciating a child for whoever he or she is? Right now, parents have to learn to live with the child they have, rather than the child they expected or thought they wanted.
Crichton, in his speech “Science Policy in the 21st Century”, compares children to complex systems:
“It doesn't work to manage complex systems according to a philosophical view.
Now, I would say that we all know this. Because the one complex system that almost all of us have knowledge of is children. And anybody who just applies Democratic or Republican principles to their kids and then walks away will soon be visiting those kids in jail. Complex systems require continuous interaction. You have to be watching constantly; you have to be adjusting and revising; as the system does this, you do that. And it's a never-ending process-these days, really never ending.”
If parents can genetically engineer their children (or attempt to), that would create expectations that parents currently may not have. And this could lead to conflict, stress and disappointment between parent and child. One mother said, “You could genetically engineer a boy to have great scientific ability or musical ability. You could still end up with a kid who would rather play baseball.”
If a parent spent the money to genetically engineer a child to be a certain way, then the parent may not only be very disappointed, he or she loses out on the joy of discovering who the child truly is and what makes the child happy. After all, the secret of enjoying life is not so much getting what you think you want, but loving and appreciating what you have.
