Kim's+Essay


 * TEXT OF ESSAY**

The mere idea of the things we could accomplish is mind boggling. Food infused with necessary vitamins, cloning of animals and possibly people, the possibility of getting rid of disease when children are created. The idea that we would be able to get rid of things such as Aids or HIV, no matter how far away that day really is, almost seems too good to be true. But that is the problem, is it too good to be true?

I don't believe that every disease or trial we have is directly from God, I believe that we are functioning humans an intelligent enough to realize that if we can get rid of a disease such as AIDS that kills so many people we should, not tell the inflicted it is a trial from God and have faith maybe it will go away. The problem is that with our society the use of these technologies could and probably would be corrupted. Movies such as GATTACA, as dramatized as they may be, gives some insight into what could happen.

Where would we draw the line? Would we allow ADD? Asthma? Or would we consider those an affliction that is beneath us? These technologies, though noble in birth, could easily be corrupted and be used for selfish reasons. How long will it be before parents decide they want their child to have the perfect genes for a star football or basketball player? Not to mention how unethical that would be, how would you know that is what the child would want to be. I mean sure it would be nice to be able to run a four minute mile of be able to do the splits, but what happens if my parents had chosen wrong? What happens if I had the perfect genes to be a gymnast but my dream was to play basketball? Talk about a whole new reason to rebel from your parents. This technology, although still off on the horizon, needs so many limitations that at this time it is actually a good thing that it is not possible; but how much longer until it is? Will we be ready on that future day?

Another of the technologies that may not be as new and is a controversy today would be stem cell research. I am a firm supporter of stem cell research. We allow women to get abortions, why not allow stem cell research? Through abortion an actual life is lost, but that is legal and mostly accepted; if we are going to use the potential of life to try and better the lives of the people living why is stem cell research so much worse. We are not actually taking a life, but just the potential of life to try and better the lives of not only people alive today but also for those to come. The idea that stem cells could fix spinal cord injuries and allow people to walk again or at least get some semblance of movement back is too good to give up. Especially the idea that some people believe that stem cell research is so corrupted that they would rather burn hundreds of fertilized embryos rather than allow them to be tested upon. Although I am all for people having children and not getting an abortion, but I believe it should be up to the women/family it involves. If people want to abort or allow stem cell research then they should be able to donate human embryos to the cause.

Another largely controversial issue in society today is the issue of cloning. On this topic I cannot even begin to know what we should or shouldn't do. I believe that if the procedure is not harmful to people or animals and that it could eventually be beneficial to society, we should look further into this topic. I do not know all the facts behind cloning or even if it has been proven safe or hazardous, but until we have a definite answer one way or the other I believe we should continue to experiment and investigate this new technology.