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Choose Your Baby’s Future!

Humans may have the ability to live longer lives and choose their baby’s features in the future,

but do we really want that power?

Cartoon by Dusan Reljic

Imagine selecting the sex, eye and hair color, height, weight, muscle mass, intelligence,

and personality of your child. Imagine living in an unnatural world with designed people.

Imagine a world where partners ask each other, “Do we want a tech tycoon or a tax lawyer?”

while browsing for a baby. This may seem like a scene out of a sci-fi movie, but due to the

development of a certain technology, this could become our reality.

The discovery of CRISPR-Cas9, or CRISPR for short, has the potential to revolutionize

our world, for better or for worse. CRISPR is a molecular tool that can edit our DNA, which

contains the information that helps us grow and function normally. There are many tempting
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applications, such as disease treatment, researching new biofuels, and enhancing the human

species. However, before we dive into using CRISPR, we must consider the potential

ramifications and ethical consequences this could have on our lives.

The temptation to use CRISPR to extend lifetimes and enhance human traits could further

evolve into a situation where parents design their babies, choosing their traits as they wish. There

would be no surprises in raising your child because you already predetermined who they are. But

with this supposed power, humanity is lost. Children would lose the ability to strengthen their

weaknesses and control their own lives. Humanity would lose its diversity, solidarity, and

humility by playing God and converting the natural miracle of birth into a scientific experiment.

Not only are we incapable of these kinds of actions (yet), but they are also morally wrong and

such research should never be performed.

As we face the overwhelming impact of CRISPR, we must remember that the challenges

we face in life and how we overcome them are what make us grow. Getting rid of all diseases

and designing everyone to be genetically perfect and immortal is bound to have physical and

social consequences. It makes sense to cure life-threatening or extreme diseases in individuals to

prevent human suffering and death. There is much research going on about how CRISPR can be

used to cure sickle cell anemia and even cancer in individuals. These applications are more

necessary and can be done if it is safe. However, other CRISPR edits require serious

consideration to prevent detrimental effects on human health and evolution.

Michael Sandel, a Harvard University Law School professor and political philosopher,

points out that “changing our nature to fit the world rather than the other way around is actually

an ethical defeat. It distracts us from reflecting critically on the world. It deadens the impulse for

social and political improvement.” Instead of changing our genome so that we better fit in our
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current society, we should work towards creating a society that complements our natural talents

and limitations.

We do not need to live immortal, perfect lives to live life to the fullest. We simply need

to carefully discuss and decide which CRISPR applications are safe and necessary, then cherish

the remaining imperfections as characteristics that make us human.