Kyle's+Essay


 * TEXT OF ESSAY**

Why walk when you can run? Day by day our genetic race is slowly evolving into something more superior. It is happening and we cannot not stop it, therefore, why not excel it? We could be stronger, healthier, faster, and smarter with assistance of genetic engineering. Furthermore, life threatening diseases and injuries could be cured through the process of therapeutic cloning. Evolution itself is survival of the fittest along with the partnership of natural selection. In fact, we have only become to where we are today through thousands of years of mishaps in transposons in the gene pool. Biotechnology proposes to sift out the unwanted genes within us and implement and magnify more desired traits that will help us live a more successful and efficient life.

The simple stages of bioengineering are already taking place whether we like it or not. Particular plants and animals that we consume have been genetically modified to survive to their full potential and fend off the evil lashes of mother nature. Those who oppose this brilliant idea say it is fake or the devil's food. Well if you don't like it, then don't eat it. You don't have to threat scientists and burn down their office. I however will gladly eat this food. We humans are natural. Therefore, everything we do is natural. We are simply acting natural to a natural substance and then eating it because it can last longer and not be so susceptible to the ills of mother nature. There is nothing wrong with adding or subtracting genes from plants. How is this any different than using plants and herbs for the use of medicine? Engineering our food and using our food to solve our health problems are both used for one thing, to benefit mankind.

There are many arguments against "choosing our destiny" and that "God gave us the ability to make the right choice", however this is America where there is a separation between church and state. Unfortunately, religious roots are blinding our politicians. With the help of stem cell research we can give a man a new heart, save a child from leukemia, give a grandparent's memory back by curing of Alzheimer's, produce a working pancreas for a diabetic, recover efficient blood flow for someone with arterial sclerosis, or enable a paralyzed, C-spine injured patient to walk again. But if we take stem cell research to the next level, we make make it so we would not even have to cure these disease for there would be none. Designer babies are the future, filtering out our corrupt genes at the early cellular level and implementing traits that grant us a better life. Sooner or later this century of biotechnology will explode like a plague. As a nation, we need to embrace this future, take every advantage we possibly can, and be the leader of this uncharted field. Eventually, some organization will attempt use bioengineering for their own benefit and create some sort of super human army. I believe, as a nation, we need to expect this and be ready for this anticipated futuristic warfare.

Hypothetically if we were to do this awesome act of making everyone bad ass, the question of "can we ever go back?" arises. My response is, "why should we"? We came from Neanderthals and we can't "go back". There is simply no need to return to a lower state of evolution. Our future, our destiny, is evolution. There is no stopping it. Maybe this method of enhancing the human race is the push we need to survive the possible problems we are facing. Say global warming wasn't a hoax. This "push" forward would be vital to surviving the problems that we have already "pushed" forward and do not have enough time to evolve and adapt to.

Although we have to think about the future. It is possible that all of this genetic modification could lead to a next stage, an era of cloning. Just like the Cold War, an arms race for the biggest, strongest clone army is inevitable. That is the only legitimate reason i see for clones to exist. I do not believe we should bread them and then strip their lives and organs to solve our health issues. This is different than therapeutic cloning and stem cell research. In therapeutic cloning, we are only destroying "potential" human life, whereas destroying already existing human life. Because stem cells are "potential" human life, it makes them less valuable rather than being a functional, dependent, living organism; original or cloned regardless.