JimBowie1958
Old Fogey
- Sep 25, 2011
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I think the problem is in going beyond what is human, not perfection itself, but trans humanism.The article doesn't really explain, very well, the distinction between mitochondrial DNA, and a human's main DNA; and an understanding of this distinction is crucial in order to understand what the article is really about. What is being discussed, here, is not really nearly as bizarre as it sounds.
Some time very early in the evolution of life, a bacterium that got eaten by an early Eukaryote, instead of being digested and destroyed, instead started living symbiotically with that Eukaryote, providing additional benefits to the Eukaryote. The mitochondria in our cells today are descendants of that bacterium, having their own DNA separate from ours. Of course, in all the billions of years that Eukaryotic life has existed, these mitochondria and other organelles derived from ingested bacteria have evolved to fulfill their roles, not as individual bacteria, but as functioning parts of a greater Eukaryotic organism.
What the article is about is people whose mitochondria are in some way defective, and of a proposed means of preventing it which involves splicing mitochondrial DNA from a different donor into a human zygote, on place of that which one would normally inherit from one's mother.
I disagree with the terminology that suggests that the mitochondrial donor would be a third “parent”; and with the bizarre ethical implications that are suggested by this terminology.
My family historically have always supported Eugenics since the 1890s, it's natural that this generation of my family follow suit in supporting it and this news is greatly exciting and also needed.
What is wrong with society having perfect babies, perfect people, nothing, why does society want defective babies, defective people, for a start look how much money they cost to care for etc, money that could be used for better purposes.
Imagine the child whose parents thought it would be cool for them to have webbed fingers and toes? We know how cruel kids can be if it is something as inocuous as red hair or short height, this would be mentally disturbing for the child, I would think.