Essays on Bad Genes

The philosopher Plato once claimed that the purpose of education is “to ensure that the habit and aspirations of the old generation are transmitted to the younger- and then presumably to the next one after that” (Plochmann). In “Reporting Live from Tomorrow,” from his book Stumbling On Happiness, Daniel Gilbert likens this transmission of beliefs to the process of genetic replication, arguing that like bad genes, false beliefs—those which do not, in fact, contribute to an individual’s happiness—can easily become “super-replicators,” within a culture (Gilbert 171). In Julia Alvarez’s Once Upon a Quinceañera, the ...

In the start of the 19th century began a movement which involved the altering the genes in the human body, by either encouraging an increase in the desirable genes (encouraging good genes) while hindering multiplication of genes that are considered undesirable (getting rid of bad genes). This movement was aiming at increasing the overall functioning of the human race (Begley, 2008)). The positive eugenic engineering or altering genes by encouraging an increase in the desirable gene would be desirable in the short-term but would bring adverse effects in the long run. In the case of making our children smarter ...

This technology has been in existence for some time in science. Genetic engineering is the alteration of the genes of an organism to obtain an offspring whose genetic make-up is more superior to that of the parent organisms. In its crude form, it comprises of selective breeding that resulted in more productive cattle breeds, in the recent past. Genetic engineering utilizes modern techniques to improve an organism’s characteristics. These include deletion or change of the genes within an organism, transfer of genes, and construction of new genes. In crops and animals, genetic engineering is aimed at improving the ...