Linda's+Essay

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In my opinion, the future is a time of promise as well as mystery. No person really knows what will come or be taken away from the world. As part of the world being a mystery all sorts of technological advancements are clearly going to happen. Within these advancements are eradicating diseases, cloning, and sequencing genomes. All of these moves forward can be seen as also moves backwards. In these subjects there are what seems to be a million gray spots, where there are pros and cons to each situation.

To start off with, everyone is born with their own set of DNA strands and genetic backgrounds. Sometimes unfortunately people such as Katelyn Beard are born with disorders that lower their quality of life such as epilepsy, Down’s syndrome, and other genetic disorders. If our world had the chance to eradicate these diseases I think we should take the opportunity. These diseases are unnecessary and bring unnecessary suffering upon people. Some may think that diseases make a family closer and that it makes people stronger but I frankly disagree. A parent, I believe will love their child no matter what, and it’s true that if the diseases were to stay in the world most parents would still love their child, even if it were retarded. Although this is true, it still is a great burden on the parents when their child is born with a disease. If I were a parent, I know I would be at first extremely hysterical if I found out that my child was retarded or had some disease only because they didn’t ask for it. A human being never asks for suffering and no one deserves it. Most parents want their child to live to the fullest and have the best quality of life they can. If their child has a disease, their quality of life changes. Either they cannot receive jobs, they cannot learn in a normal classroom, they won’t have as many friends, they won’t have the same opportunities as everyone else; this is probably what goes through every parent’s head. So if our technological advances can prevent that parent’s grief and improve that child’s life, why not? What is so wrong with increasing the quality of life for everyone who will have diseases? It would not harm at all. I do not think it would. I think that eradicating diseases is what we are already striving for. We are striving for the cure for cancer and other diseases; so why not prevent the diseases at birth through genetics? That is where the foundation of health care is sat upon. Doctors, nurses, and surgeons all have one thing in common; they want to help people and save people from pain and suffering. Therefore we should move forward in that way and prevent people from suffering. We are not playing God. If God gave us reasoning and brains, then he gave us the choice to prevent diseases. God is the Omega and knows all so he knows what we are doing. The freedom of choice gives us the right to help people in need.

Cloning on the other hand, I have mixed feelings about. Cloning is in my mind alright if we are only cloning organs. It would be nice, I think, if people who were dying didn’t have to wait on a list for a new heart or liver. I think if we cloned organs and had an infinite amount that it would improve the health and life span of everyone in the world. Less people would die from organ failures. Although this seems like a good idea on my side, the other side is that if the world were to supply an infinite amount of organs, I think that all morals would fly out the window with a lot of people. Some would think that they could drink until their liver was shot because they could get another, or that they could eat greasy foods and block up their arteries because they could always get a new heart. But I think that all health care advancements can at one point or another be abused and I strongly believe that saving people’s lives is worth that negative point. I, however, disagree with cloning animals and humans. Every human and animal is born unique. If we started to clone humans everyone would be the same. There would be no diversity and everyone would pretty much be robots. We would have no intellectual thinkers because everyone would soon be programmed to think the same. Slowly but surely the world would become much like a march of robots everyday. Diversity and differences are what makes the world, the world. Without that there would really be no joy in life. Life would be boring and the same everywhere. It would destroy the reason for living.

Now we move on to sequencing genomes. This is way worse than being seen naked in front of a million people. This is your DNA exposed for everything that is meant to be secret. I disagree with the idea of breaking down someone’s DNA to find out if they’ll have heart disease in the near future or if they will die at the age of 36. It’s just not right. I think if I were to find out the exact time and date of my death it would shatter my world completely. I would sulk through life dreading that date, always having that date in the front of my mind. Always thinking about it. It would never leave my mind; ever. I would not want that rain cloud over my head for the rest of my life. Plus, if we were to strip down our DNA to the public, occupations would not need to schedule interviews anymore they would just look at your DNA. They would determine if you would fit into their company, not by how enthusiastic you are about the job, but about the fact that you could die in a short time. Also insurance companies would have even more reason to deny people just by looking at their DNA. In my opinion it would not help the world at all. It would not save our species nor would it make our world healthier. It would most likely blatantly disrespect the privacy of citizens. It would make the world a less privacy and constitution driven place. Sequencing genomes is a bad idea; point blank. Unless of course if the genetic readings of your DNA were to be private and between a patient and the doctor. That idea I approve of. It trickles back to my point about saving lives and increasing health for everyone. If customized genetic medicine can save someone’s life; go for it.

In this world, there are going to be many changes, many faults and many mistakes. But in all of these things, we as a society are trusted to pick the least harmful to the world. If it will help then seize the power, if it will make matters worse then drop it. That is my opinion.