The appearance of modern technologies has greatly changed the world. Nowadays people cannot imagine their lives without the advances that were given by modern technologies. Television, computers, and the Internet have definitely made the people's lives much easier. Moreover, the development of technologies doesn't stop here and the new step is genetic engineering. At present time scientists are working on transforming human nature. They promise that in the near future designer children will be possible. There are various arguments regarding this topic. Some people claim that designer children is not right from the standpoint of moral as parents should accept their children just as they are. Other people totally disagree with this view. All in all, it is clear that designer children will be beneficial for future society as it can contribute to the birth of smarter, better looking and healthier children who would not be suffering from genetic diseases.
First of all, it is worth considering that designer children can help people to start a family. Unfortunately, but sometimes parents are not capable of having children. They do a lot of medical treatment but they feel that they make all their efforts in vein. In this case genetic engineering would be a perfect opportunity to start a family and have children. It would definitely make them much happier. Moreover, quite often people are not willing to have children because of the possibility of genetic diseases. Thus, if they or the members of their families suffer from a certain diseases, they don’t want their children to have the same problems. They don't want their future children to suffer. They simply want their kids to have a normal and happy life. At this rate, it is clear that the usage of genetic engineering would be beneficial. With its help the genetic diseases would decrease. As a result, people wouldn't be afraid of starting a family and would feel themselves more confident about the health of their children. In fact, the possibilities of genetic engineering are incredible. It cannot only ensure people that they would have healthy children, but also let them choose the sex of their child. For instance, in China people suffer from overpopulation. China has the highest population rate in the world and in order to solve this problem and to control the growth of population Chinese government started a one child per family policy. According to this policy, each family should have only one child. If a family has more than one child, it would be taxed based on the income of the family. Being allowed to have only one child, many families preferred to give birth to boys and as a result a number of baby girls were abandoned to die every year. Considering this case, the genetic engineering would be extremely useful. As Sandel states, “perhaps the most inevitable nonmedical use of bioengineering is sex selection” (Sandel). It could solve such problems that exist in China and some other countries as parents would be able to preselect the gender of their child.
It should be also noted that with the help of designer children, parents would be able to choose not only sex of their child. They would be also capable of choosing their children's genetic traits such as appearance, height, muscles. Of course, appearance is not the main point that makes a person’s life better or happier. However, it could prevent bullying and possible offenses. Moreover, it could improve children’s self-esteem and make them more confident. It is also worth of mentioning that designer children could improve children’s cognitive capacities. With its help children would have talents in certain spheres. It is clear that this possibility is truly important as it will open a number of opportunities for children. By having certain abilities, children would easily achieve success in their future professions. Their talents in future would surely increase their chances of promotion and would help them to reach a success in their professional fields. In fact, designer children would be beneficial not only for children, but also for the whole society. Genetic engineering will make it possible to create a new generation of smart and intelligent people that would become great members of the society they live in. Designer children could give birth to a number of professional doctors, lawyers, teachers and professors.
At the same time, it is important to mention that there are a lot of arguments against designer children. For example, many people believe that genetic altering is morally wrong. They emphasize the fact that when parents want to change something in their children, it means that they do not accept them as they are. According to D’Souza, “parents who try to design their children are in some ways more tyrannical than slaveowners, who merely sought to steal the labor of their slaves” (D’Souza). This view is highly supported by many other people. For instance, Sandel claims that “the ethic of giftedness, under siege in sports, persists in the practice of parenting. But hero, too, bio-engineering and genetic enhancement threaten to dislodge it. To appreciate children as gifts is to accept them as they come, not as objects of our design or products of our will or instruments of our ambition” (Sandel). The main claim here lies in the fact that parents have no right to change the unique nature of their children. It is not right from the standpoint of moral. They think that by choosing a perfect child, parents treat their children as objects and as their property. As D’Souza states, “we speak of “our children”, but they are not really ours; we do not own them” (D’Souza). All these people mainly hold the view that each child has ones own unique traits of character. And parents should not only love their children for specific talents and abilities. They also shouldn't pay attention to superficial things. Many people also believe that genetic engineering is totally unnatural. They cannot understand how it is possible to design a child and to give one specific traits of character. Such people claim that “by choosing a child's genetic makeup in advance, parents deny the child’s right to an open future” (Sandel). They generally vote against any form of bioengineering. Nevertheless, there are strong counterarguments to these views and ideas. For instance, women have the right to make adoption in such a way deciding whether they can or cannot give birth to their child. All in all, it is possible to say that parents have a right to prenatal autonomy. It grants them the right to decide the fate of their children. It is clear that not a single parent can treat one child as an object. They simply want their children to be healthy and happy. All parents wish the best for their children and can do anything in order to protect them and to make them happy. Furthermore, genetic engineering allows the creation of post-human species. Thus, Silver believes that “in a bold assertion of will, we can defeat the program of our genes, we can take over the reins of evolution, we can choose the genetic code we want for our children, and we can collectively determine the future of our species” (qtd. in D’Souza). Designer children will surely contribute to a healthier society. According to Hawking, “genetic engineering could be used to reduce human aggression, thus solving the crime problem and making war less likely” (qtd. in D’Souza). Therefore, it is possible to say that the opportunities of genetic engineering would bring only benefits to the families and to the society in general. It would definitely bring the advances in science, medicine, technology and arts. Furthermore, human progress, culture and technology could be accelerated.
Works cited
D’Souza, Dinesh. “Staying Human”. American Enterprise Institute. 22 Jan. 2001. Web. 23 Feb. 2016
Sandel, Michael “The Case Against Perfection”. The Atlantic. Apr. 2004. Web. 23 Feb. 2016
