I wouldn’t hesitate.

Oppenheimer believed he was ending the Holocaust and saving the estimated one million American military casualties required to force Japan into surrender. Ask him how he felt when he realized how his noble science would be used. And the full potential of his work hasn’t even been actualized, thankfully.

I know it’s not fair to liken genetic research to weapons research. But I’m talking about making small sacrifices for the greater good. Maybe you just don’t see a cost in tampering with our blueprints. Maybe there isn’t one right now. But those nuclear baby-steps then are the war drum now.

With genetic and stem cell research we’ve opened another door. We pull impressive bounties out into reality. I won’t attempt to argue with that. I agree with that. But what is slipping by our ankles to slither away and grow up in some dark corner of civilization?

Genetic science is a fire cracker in an open palm. It looks like magic. Just no one’s curled his fist around it. Not yet.

Mom

Putting your brain in a computer isn’t what would be done when your body died, it wouldn’t ever be done against your will, and depending on the state of the world, might not be radically different than having a physical body. People will just slowly evolve into hybrids and you won’t really know where to draw the line between human an machine.

Maybe it will start with the ibod that apple makes and it will be the size of a piece of rice. Maybe you’ll swallow it and from then on you can listen to music without having a music player, you just hear whatever you decide you want to listen to. Maybe later on they will have clouds of nonobots that are as small as molecules that can form into any shape that you decide you need at the moment. You might think about needing a broom and the nanobots in the room all clump together and turn into one. Jeff might never get an ibod because he won’t want to permanently modify himself; however, he might choose to have his nanobots turn into a normal ipod or something. When the technology is that advanced though you can get even more crazy with it. Maybe instead of an ipod you want a flying broom so you can play Quidditch or some other fantastic game that can’t be played right now. Imagine how rad it could be if you could google your memories and re-experience them or send your experiences to others instead of pictures so they could experience it first hand. When you start getting to that point the line between reality and fantasy gets blurrier and blurrier. Being a mind in a computer could still be a very human experience. I’m just making shit up obviously, but these are the things I hope I survive long enough to see. Seriously, check out those books. Even if they are completely wrong they are fascinatingly optimistic views of the future.

Genetic engineering is already a very big part of medicine, healthcare and the world we live in. There are genetically engineered drugs that I give quite frequently and they are great. One quick example is a drug called Epogen. It stimulates bone marrow to produce red blood cells. Cancer patients get it to counteract the effects of chemo so they don’t have to have blood transfusions. Premature babies get it because they get quite anemic and it can prevent them having to have transfusions. (Blood transfusions still carry some risk, so something that avoids this is a good thing, I think!). Another new thing from genetic engineering is a amino acid protein that, when injected, finds veins in little kids. This allows sick, dehydrated infants and children to get lifesaving IV fluid without having to be stuck numerous times or possibly have a surgical cutdown or needle placed in their bone if an IV site can’t be found. This sounds very cool to me!

Stem cell research and genetic engineering are very misunderstood. Chances are, you’ve eaten genetically engineered corn or a loaf of bread made from genetically engineered wheat.

Both genetic engineering and use of stem cells can improve the quality of many people’s lives. I find this to be, morally and ethically, a good thing. Technology isn’t inherently bad or good. It just is. How human beings decide to use it can be judged if you’re so inclined. Somedays I am and some days I’m not, but I do think we need a bit of wisdom in how we choose to use it in our lives. Personally, I’m not interested in having my brain transferred to a computer, and Jason, if you do that to me… I will haunt you! Just saying, I’ll also haunt you if you bury me in a dress. Just saying! Anyway, I’m tired and Ill close with a quote from Albert Einstein: “I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones” I’m not positive what he was saying, but I think he meant that technology used for harm will in the end, destroy itself.

Jason’s Mom