• Question: do you think eugenics could be used ethically to produce "super humans" or would this never be considered after it's shady past linked with Hitler

    Asked by anon-257950 on 26 Jun 2020.
    • Photo: Ruth Patchett

      Ruth Patchett answered on 26 Jun 2020:

      Thanks for this question. It is a really interesting topic. In short I think “no”. Partly because we all have very different ideas of what makes a “super human” as history has shown and actually we know that diversity is important for society on many levels so engineering people to have all the same qualities is not ideal.
      In some ways we do already do use some of these ideas, for example pregnant people are screened to see if the embyro has certain genetic diseases so they can make the decision if they want to proceed with the pregnancy. Many people think this is also unethical as it passes a judgement on the quality of life of some disabled people rather than putting an effort into changing societal attitudes to people with different disabilities.

    • Photo: Alex Ttofi

      Alex Ttofi answered on 26 Jun 2020:

      Its always a raw subject and like most things in life the majority will obey and followed and develop within the moral and legal boundaries set. Their will always be a very small minority who will try to use it for personal gain or to create perfect people etc.
      Initially the technique will be used to try to cure or make better genetic mutations that lead to humans with various conditions (eg down’s syndrome) or use genetics to stop / cure other disease (cancers etc). You then get the moral case of should that be a benefit or not.
      We see it with crops now, making them more resistant to drought or pests – do we step up to do this for humans?One person sees a change for good while another could see it as bad eg the crop beats drought but then becomes poisonous to an animal that wants to eats it. Which is right?
      As time goes on and we get better at Eugenics — the moral question will come up again and again – should we try to improve or change nature?

      It will happen and is happening and it will be your age group that will make the hard decisions based on the platforms our generation lay

    • Photo: Katherine Haxton

      Katherine Haxton answered on 26 Jun 2020:

      I believe that a low level of genetic manipulation of humans will become ethically acceptable because in some ways it already is through testing of embryos and screening for certain genetic variants (although that is generally selection of specific genetics not altering existing genetics). Some of these do cause disease, some don’t and those are more contentious for screening. I think services to support (for example) people who would prefer not to pass on genes that give a higher risk of cancer are really important.
      We also need to think about what the term “super human” means, does it mean a human free from risk of genetic conditions? Or does it mean enhanced beyond what nature, hard work and training can create? I think we will need really good ways of thinking about these problems as science develops better ways to manipulate the genetic structure of humans.

    • Photo: Andy Kowalski

      Andy Kowalski answered on 26 Jun 2020:

      From my perspective, definitely not as know of people who suffered at the hands of Joesph Mengele in death camps in Eastern Europe.

    • Photo: Zoe Ingold

      Zoe Ingold answered on 26 Jun 2020:

      Depends upon the definition of super humans. Do you mean people free of genetic illnesses or enhanced sci-fi like stuff? Personally I don’t think the latter is ethical at all and I think eliminating genetic illnesses, whilst an excellent aspiration, has the potential to cause a lot of societal issues. What happens to people who can’t afford access to the technology? Or who have genetic illnesses? I’m not keen on the idea and I don’t think it’s ethical research to pursue.

    • Photo: Aisling Ryan

      Aisling Ryan answered on 26 Jun 2020:

      Well, to answer your question simply, no I don’t think it could ever be used ethically. In this day and age trying to do a simple animal study is extremely difficult and tedious to get ethics approval for. Even therapies like immunotherapy, where immune cells are extracted from a patient and then cultured to target a disease (cancer). Although this therapy is thought to be extremely promising as a treatment it isn’t expected to be readily available to the general public. Only really available to wealthy patients in expensive private clinics. So, in my opinion, I think we would need to be able to efficiently treat diseases etc. for the general public before we start making super humans! (and even then I really don’t think something like that would ever be approved ethically… we need to know when to draw the line! Messing with nature is dangerous!)

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