From all indications, genetically engineered humans will be here with us sooner than we expected, and historian scientist Michael Bess has expressed concern.
Michael Bess is a historian of science at Vanderbilt University, who is also the author of an enthralling new book, Our Grandchildren Redesigned: Life in a Bioengineered Society.
The field of genetic engineering is a branch of science which aims at deliberately modifying the genetic makeup of living organisms. Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), which is the genetic makeup of any living organism, is a molecule that carries the genetic instructions used in the growth, development, functioning and reproduction of all known living organisms.
Genetic engineers are succeeding in manually adding new DNA to organisms, including humans, through biotechnology. The goal is to add one or more new traits that are not already found in that organism.
Bess’s book proposes a comprehensive outlook at the genetically modified future in an effort to grapple with the implications of genetically engineered humans.
The future has been described as terrifying and promising.
Bess explained that major advancement in human knowledge has had to do with areas where humans are capable of modifying their environment to make life easier, better, longer and healthier.
“Now, the technology, instead of being applied to our surroundings, how we get food for ourselves, how we transport things, how we shelter ourselves, how we communicate with each other, now those technologies are being turned directly on our own biology, on our own bodies and minds,” Bess said.
“And so, instead of transforming the world around ourselves to make it more what we wanted it to be, now it’s becoming possible to transform ourselves into whatever it is that we want to be.
“And there’s both power and danger in that, because people can make terrible miscalculations, and they can alter themselves, maybe in ways that are irreversible, that do irreversible harm to the things that really make their lives worth living.
“That’s the concern; we’ve given ourselves, or we’re starting now to give ourselves a power that we may not have the wisdom to control very well,” he added.