[extropy-chat] Anti-transhumanist op-ed: Is the world ready for a superboy - or a dogboy?

[Joseph Bloch]

Bear in mind this wingnut is with the Discovery Institute, one of the 
leading proponents of Intelligent Design.

I don't think it should be dismissed solely on that basis, but it's 
interesting to see how the anti-bioscience movement seems to be 
branching out.

Joseph

Neil H. wrote:

> The Dallas Morning News has an anti-transhumanist op-ed by a senior 
> fellow at the Discovery Institute (a conservative Christian think-tank).
>
> http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/opinion/points/stories/DN-smith_13edi.ART.State.Edition1.2f25c31.html 
> <http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/opinion/points/stories/DN-smith_13edi.ART.State.Edition1.2f25c31.html>
>
> Some quotes:
>
> Look out, America: The trajectory of science is coming into conflict 
> with venerable human values and even our self-definition as a species, 
> raising urgent ethical issues that will have to be answered before it 
> is too late.
> ...
>
> The "sanctity/equality of life ethic" holds that all human beings have 
> equal moral worth, regardless of their abilities or capacities. This 
> objective standard is now threatened by "personhood theory," which 
> holds that rights only belong to "persons," a status earned by 
> possessing minimal cognitive capacities. If personhood theory 
> supplants sanctity of life as the governing ethic of society, it would 
> open the door to harvesting organs from people like Terri Schiavo or 
> permitting biotechnologists to "farm" cloned fetuses for use in drug 
> testing or experiments in genetic engineering.
> ...
> If scientists can insert human DNA into animal embryos, then animal 
> DNA could just as easily be inserted into human embryos. Such 
> experiments are far from unthinkable. A social movement called 
> "transhumanism" advocates the creation of a "post human species," 
> which would include using animal genes in progeny to increase strength 
> or make senses more acute.
> ...
>
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