CMR has a guest blogger this month, Rebecca Taylor. She is a clinical lab specialist in molecular biology, so it’s safe to assume she has a good handle on the science involved with, well, molecular biology.
After reading her latest guest post at CMR, I popped over to her blog to do a bit of reading. Amazing stuff, well worth reading, and she explains clearly both scientific and moral issues.
One post that really caught my eye starts thus:
The premise that we are no more than the sum of the genes we inherited from our parents is not only a dangerous reduction of humanity to a simple sequence of letters, but it is outright wrong. Wrong both morally and scientifically. Science is quickly learning that genetics is a lot more complicated that we thought. It is not just about what genes you have but what genes are turned on or off. A whole branch of genetics called epigenetics is dedicated to understanding how and why genes are expressed. It turns out the sequence of DNA is only a part of the picture. Environment also plays a very important role. Let me give you a very powerful example that I use all the time.
Go look at the example. Read the rest. And I think the worst part is at the end:
Dr. Savulescu is by no means the only brain in an ivory tower suggesting we make sure only the “genetically fit” are born. Brains with enough arrogance to think we even know how to define “genetically fit.” I could go on all day listing the names of academics (and Nazi dictators) who have fallen in the genetic determinism trap.
Genetic determinism is scientifically invalid (increased risk is no guarantee), yet some scientists are willing to use the concept to create a master race. The Culture of Death continues to push and push and push, trying to make people “better” by culling the herd, killing the imperfect. If they had it, they’d use G-23 Paxilon Hydrochlorate on us.
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