About genetic engineering...

Edwards Finance > General Engineering

Q. the most important thing that genetic engineering could do is take away people's aggressive tendencies. Do you think that would be a good thing? Do you think the opposite is also possible?

A. "Aggressive" being such a malleable term, I suppose it depends on how you choose to define it. If you mean needlessly violent, then yes, obviously that's a good thing because it would help to eliminate the driving force behind most violent crime. On the other hand one can take "aggressive" to mean nothing more than a competitive, ambitious, take-no-crap sort of attitude, a trait which I personally find admirable. Of course, this opens up the whole debate of "nature vs. nurture" when it comes to one having an aggressive or violent nature: are some people genetically predisposed to such behavior, or is it a product of upbringing and environment, or some combination of the two? I think this heads in an obvious direction: would the elimination of violent tendencies put an end to war? I tend to think that it wouldn't. My logic: Wars are started by government leaders to achieve what they perceive as a gain for their side, that gain being added security, land, political influence and prowess, and so on. Soldiers, trained in combat and sworn to follow orders, will follow through with a war scenario regardless of any genetic alterations to avoid violence. (Anyone who tries to turn this in to another war flame thread will get my foot up their ass, by the way.) Now, that being said, Gis asks if we can create Jem'Hadar-style killing machines, and I say of course! In fact, I suspect that it would be a whole lot easier to create a caste of people who are uber-violent than it would be to create people that are uber-pusillanimous. Y'know, I've often wondered what those opposed to genetically altered crops exactly are opposed to. No, seriously, if someone who's an active opponent of the practice can explain it to me, I really need to understand. See, I personally think the science of genetic alteration and enhancement is exciting and can be of great benefit. I welcome any ethical debate over the practice because such debate helps to create a system of checks and balances that ensures that the science progresses at a rate that people can handle, and ensures that the science, for the most part, is used properly.

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