To me it seems like the problem is not the technology, which has amazing therapeutic potential, but the failure of legislature to catch up and regulate the technology. GMO in and of itself can be incredibly beneficial, but becomes controversial in the way it is implemented or commercialized. Without educated legislators working to prevent non-therapeutic uses, there is a significant and concerning potential for a reality like the one Knoepfler describes or, even worse and in my opinion more likely, one where the very rich are the only ones who can afford the technology and are allowed to develop a genetic advantage to support their economic advantage.
Good points, Mara. Of course, in our current culture, the impoverished are already much less likely to have adequate access to medical treatment--so we could expect that continue. How to draw the conceptual lines so that we can tell what's therapeutic and what's not...that's tricky!
To me it seems like the problem is not the technology, which has amazing therapeutic potential, but the failure of legislature to catch up and regulate the technology. GMO in and of itself can be incredibly beneficial, but becomes controversial in the way it is implemented or commercialized. Without educated legislators working to prevent non-therapeutic uses, there is a significant and concerning potential for a reality like the one Knoepfler describes or, even worse and in my opinion more likely, one where the very rich are the only ones who can afford the technology and are allowed to develop a genetic advantage to support their economic advantage.
ReplyDeleteGood points, Mara. Of course, in our current culture, the impoverished are already much less likely to have adequate access to medical treatment--so we could expect that continue. How to draw the conceptual lines so that we can tell what's therapeutic and what's not...that's tricky!
ReplyDelete