04.09.09
Genetic enhancement – boon or boondoggle?
Genetic enhancement – boon or boondoggle?
Some day, in the not-too-distant future, doctors may be able to reprogram a patient’s DNA so that he or she will never get cancer or Alzheimer’s disease – or, perhaps, find the “Holy Grail” of genetics research – eternal youth.
Genetic enhancement also could provide a “superior” class of people who are smarter, better looking and more athletic than their peers, creating what author and researcher Maxwell J. Mehlman, author of the book “Wondergenes,” calls “the genobility.”
But Mehlman cautions, “The point is that the same technological breakthroughs that make dramatic social benefits possible also threaten to undermine the foundations of our society.