Pandoras Box Essay

Should parent be allowed to genetically engineer their children? : The ethical dilemma of designer babies.

The last 150 years have seen the origin of—and rapid expansion in—human knowledge involving the nature and mechanisms of trait and disease inheritance in human beings. Advances in genetic research hold great promise for the future development of effective prevention and treatment strategies for a great many, often devastating, heritable conditions. However, these advances also raise a series of policy, legal and fundamentally ethical questions concerning what we should and should not do with the knowledge and technology we acquire. These questions are numerous and both imminently practical and speculative, ranging from the exhausted, yet still largely unresolved, question of the moral status of the human embryo to fears about slippery slopes into a Brave New World or Gattaca-style dystopic future characterized by designer children and a genetic underclass.

We are living is a world where very soon it will be possible for people to create ‘designer babies’ that have all the features they wish for. In the article Building Baby from the Genes Up, Ronald M. Green talks about all the positive impacts that genetic modification of human beings can have on our future generations. Green acknowledges some of the negatives such as parents creating perfect children and being able to give them any trait the parent wants. However in the end he comes to the conclusion that the positive impacts of getting rid of genes that cause obesity, cancer, learning disorders, and many other diseases and disorders, outweighs the negative aspects. Richard Hayes, author of Genetically Modified Humans? No Thanks, takes the stance that we should not be able to change anything about human beings through genetic modification. He believes that once we start modifying a few features, it will slowly turn into every parent altering as many of their babies’ genes that they want. While he does acknowledge the positive impacts of getting rid of negative genes such as Tay-Sachs, he believes that it is not worth the risk of having parents manipulate all their future children’s genes to their liking. Green and Hayes stand on opposite sides of the debate about genetic modification of human beings and this essay will explore the similarities and the differences of their articles.

The myth of Pandora's Box offers an explanation of how grief first entered into the world. When Prometheus, a god of fire, steals fire from the heavens and gives it to the mortals, an uproar is created between the gods. In order to offset the blessing that fire brought, Zeus, the chief god, plans on sending down a woman as punishment. Then, with the help of other Greek gods and goddesses, Zeus created

By his decree, a virgin, the first woman, was fashioned out of clay and given gifts by all the gods. All except Hermes, who gave her perfidy and lies. Named Pandora, she was offered to Epimetheus. Prometheus had warned his brother of accepting gifts from the ruler of Olympus, but Epimetheus was enchanted by her beauty and welcomed her. With her, she had brought a large vase, which is incorrectly named “Pandora’s Box”. When Pandora had arrived in Epimetheus’s house, she opened the vase and all of the illnesses of life escaped and spread throughout the world. Hope alone stayed. Thus with the arrival of the first woman, came misery (Aldington et al

For many years, the idea of being able to design and choose your children has long been a topic of science fiction. But rapid progress in genetics is making the idea of ‘designer children’ possible. A designer child is a baby whose genetic make-up has been selected in order to eradicate a particular defect, or to ensure that a particular gene is present. This can be used to improve the health of the baby, or enhancing particular genes to make the child achieve better in a particular area. These babies are also described as genetically modified, where the child contains genetic material that has been artificially altered so as to produce a desired characteristic. Despite the seemingly beneficial results, there are many negative as well as positive aspects to this new technique.

“Pandora’s Box” and its Relation to Greek Culture “Pandora’s Box” is a Greek myth that has been told for centuries. The Greek created this origin myth in order to explain how evil and hope arose on the Earth. Pandora, in Greek mythology was the first woman, who was created by the Greek gods. She was created out of clay by order of Zeus in order to punish Prometheus for stealing fire from the heavens as a gift to humans. On Earth, Pandora married Prometheus’s brother, Epimetheus.

Christain Shorter Ms. Alexander World Literature 9 November 2015 Pandora’s Box? Pandora is one of the most well-known figures in mythology. Her name means “all-gifted” (Gall 119). She was the first human woman ever created by the gods. “Hephaestus created a human girl.

Lowe’s also has a service called Lowebot. This innovative robotic device has been sent out to stores in California. “For nearly two years, we’ve studied how robots in our San Jose Orchard Supply Hardware store can help customers more effectively navigate the store to find products and assist employees with inventory scanning,” said Kyle Nel, executive director of Lowe’s Innovation Labs (Product). Lowebot can assist a customer looking for specific products as well as show them where they are. The device can also scan for prices, and answer less complicated questions, therefore leaving more time for employees to offer project expertise and personalized service. This device is being tested in California and has been a great hit so far.

New technological advances and scientific methods continue to change the course of nature. One of the current controversial advances in science and technology is the use of genetically modified embryos in which the study exceeds stem cell research. Scientists have begun planning for research involving human embryos in the genetic modification field. Many technological developments are responsible for improving our living standards and even saving lives, but often such accomplishments have troubling cultural and moral ramifications (Reagan, 2015). We are already beyond the days in which virtually the only procreative option was for a man and a woman to conceive the old-fashioned way (Reagan, 2015). Genetic modification of human embryos can be perceived as a positive evolution in the medical process yet it is surrounded by controversy due to ethical processes. Because this form of genetic modification could affect later born children and their offspring, the protection of human subjects should be a priority in decisions about whether to proceed with such research (Dresser, 2004). The term Human Genetic Engineering was originally made public in 1970. During this time there were several methods biologists began to devise in order to better identify or isolate clone genes for manipulation in several species or mutating them in humans.

In ancient Roman society, the prevalence and dominance of religion was common and widespread. From the 27 BC, the beginning of the political reign of Augustus Caesar, the messages from religion developed into the social codes of behaviour for Roman citizens and furthermore, allowed for Rome to reach the pinnacle of greatness it did. Under Augustus’ leadership, ancient civilizations was offered a man who is the prime example of what is meant to be a proper Roman. A man who acknowledges and submits to his Fate. A man who held religious piety to a high priority as a form of respect to the Gods, to such an extent that he reaffirmed the traditions of the old Roman religion until it reached mainstream acceptance by the Roman public. Furthermore, Roman Religious Beliefs can be understood through the identification of key values and ideas that would contribute to Roman society by developing standards and codes of behaviour that would reinforce the actions needed of an exemplary Roman citizen. Though at this time, Rome did not have what constitute a “religion” by our modern standards, it was the common held beliefs by the people and the state that acted as a religion to moderate and control the behaviour of Roman citizens.

Who would have ever thought we could live in a world that can make genetically modified humans; some think the idea of genetically modified food is absurd. According to the encyclopedia, “Eugenics is the conviction and practice of enhancing the hereditary nature of the human population”. In our modern world, eugenics has become a center of conversation because of its numerous progressive usages, but also its probable consequences. Some believe it is the future of our world, some believe it will do more harm than good. With this proclamation, there is no uncertainty that it will be tremendously helpful in the use of preventing diseases such as cancer and countless more, before we are even outside the womb. However this idea can also be mistreated

The term designer children is unnerving at first to many. The idea of parents designing the genetic makeup of their offspring makes children seem like a commodity in a genetic free market. Thoughts of a dystopian society like the one in the film “Gattaca” come to mind. However, taking an immediate repugnant stand against genetic enhancement is not well-founded. A more open-minded inspection of the issue reveals that the idea of parents improving their children’s life prospects through genetic engineering (provided it is safe) is, at its core, not unethical. In fact, some genetic enhancement in addition to correcting deleterious genes to prevent disease is a moral obligation. It is moral to make rational decisions using the science and

OL 125 Milestone One As an ENTJ Jungian Personality type, my character traits are an extravert, with introverted intuition, extroverted sensing, and introverted feelings.1 Most describe an ENTJ as the person that takes command in situations.2 I find some of my greatest professional strengths lie in my ability to visualize the future, quickly develop, and implement an efficient plan of action. I base my plans on logic after quick but thorough strategic analysis. I also love a challenge, throw your hardest challenge at me, and I will conquer it using my strategic thinking, strong will, and confidence.

One of the biggest pictures that are against genetic engineering is that humans are not supposed to play the role of God. DNA is a unique thing to every person. Bioengineering itself involves the very technical aspects of modification, and the enhancement of stem cells or DNA and this process can change the human structure. “The progress of civilization has been having been largely dependent upon the out ‘interference with nature’.”(Encyclopedia of Applied Plant Sciences).