I thought Benjamin had an interesting reaction to the idea of genetic engineering ~ someone at school, apparently, had suggested that in the future humans could be designed that would be much more intelligent than present day humans, and his reaction was that it wouldn't be fair to us ordinary humans. He was quite resentful of the idea. I suggested to him that probably early humans didn't think it was fair that we were so much smarter than they were.
I agree with you that some governments will try to stop genetic engineering of humans, and I also agree that some will try to do it, anyway. The next time a government with ideals like Nazi Germany had takes control of a country, it will be fully funded, even. I can't think of any present government that would try to create a superman, but certainly past governments wanted to create supermen, so it's entirely foreseeable.
I doubt that it can be done, however. Human variation seems to revert to the mean, more or less. Superintelligent people have children who are more intelligent than average, but they don't necessarily have superintelligent children. Superbeautiful people have children who are more beautiful than average, but they don't necessarily have superbeautiful children. We are mutts, mongrels, that's one of our strong points. Indeed, the most beautiful people, in my opinion, are mixed-race, and although I can't prove it objectively, I suspect that mixed-race people are more intelligent, too.
But they will still try, I agree. |
