The Next Civil War

"Most species do their own evolving, making it up as they go along, which is the way Nature intended. And this is all natural and organic and in tune with mysterious cycles of the cosmos, which believes that theirs nothing like millions of years of really frustrating trial and error to give a species moral fiber and, in some cases, backbone." - Terry Pratchett

The other day in class we began to discuss weather robots will inherit the Earth or not. The topics of longevity and life span came up. Studies show that even though the average life span of a human has changed over the years, due to advances in modern technology, the max life is still only about 115 years. Further more no animal, that has been discovered, has lived past 200 years.

The relationship between apes and humans came up as well. Research shows that even though we are only a few genes off from apes and monkeys, we are able to live almost twice as long as them. This brings rise to the question of if we were to change only a few more genes, could we live twice as long? Or would it take more than that? A research company in Sweden is developing a pill that contains an enyzme found in red wine. This pill when taken everyday for the rest of your life will prolong it by at least 50 years.

Of course the topic of inorganic replacements came around too. Yet amongst all of these discussions the same topic came up every time. Even if we are able to prolong our lives, through artificial replacements or gene therapy or whatever, our bodies still age. There would be no point in living to 200 if for the last 100 years we were unable to even walk.

Therefore I am a firm believer that there is a bigger concern out there. With the mapping of the human genome, gene technology is starting to come about. I, along with many others, feel that in the future, which may not be too far away, human beings will begin to be genetically engineered in the womb. Say a mother is carrying a child, and it is discovered that the baby will be born with MS or some other life threatening disease. Through the use of gene manipulation we would be able to go into the womb and augment a few genes and then a healthy baby would be born.

Gene manipulation then brings up a moral aspect. People will then begin to design their children. This way they would be 6'2" 210 lbs. with blonde hair and blue eyes. Yet a moral issue is brought up in, is man now trying to play god? Further more a rift will begin to form between mankind, a division between the genetically manipulated and the natural "god" born. This in turn could create the next civil war, but not between people of the same continent or country, but instead between all of human kind.

What reprocushions will mapping the human genome really bring?........