rainerann
Star
- Joined
- Mar 18, 2017
- Messages
- 4,550
I see what you are suggesting; however, this is dependent on this potential technology automatically being implemented in an unethical way. It is being presented in a way that is somewhat superstitious as though the technology had the power to control the creator to behave in a way that is unethical, and it doesn't.
There are some serious things to consider, but the main problem that I see is that even if we were to implement gene therapy technology, this will still be a crude approach to addressing the subject of disease. Maybe this is what leads to superstitious speculations about how the implementation of these approaches will change the way we think and live.
Modifying dna will still be somewhat crude, but that is the disappointing reality of healthcare as it operates today. Everything we do is just a little less crude than a barber/surgeon would have done many years ago.
It is still not an end or a final resting place for the field of medicine. Therefore, it will find its end and eventually be replaced by something that tries to be a little less crude than the approach before it. Therefore, we are given a lot to speculate over whether this inevitable end that will be reached with more advanced technology, will be apocalyptic.
Outside of these speculations, there is also more opportunity for treating a mentally ill patient that would be more efficient than any of the medications we have today. So there are ethical concerns, but the presence of ethical concerns does not automatically default to apocalyptic conclusions.
As a population, we are presently incredibly vulnerable because of the presence of disease, so I can see something you are suggesting is possible. It is also what frustrates me the most about the discussion because it really is a rock and a hard place.
On the one hand, you are vulnerable to a hundred different diseases, and there is not a whole lot you can do about it. On the other hand, you can be taken advantage of because of this because you would like to have this experience alleviated in some way.
It is very easy to say this is all some kind of evil and to have discussions like this as though it weren't even something that was necessary to provide. It is an entirely different thing to realize and see the way people suffer from all kinds of different things and know just how incredibly limited you are in how you can help them. They will leave with some of their symptoms alleviated in most cases, but the disease process will remain and there is nothing you can do.
So this whole thing is a lot bigger in some respects too, and it is all rooted in the fact that there is no other approach being offered to provide healing to people in a real way. Even the natural remedies we talk about are not going a significant percentage of what the healthcare industry treats on a regular basis. So I understand what you are saying, but I do think the discussion is becoming very narrowed and losing a full perspective because of the present situation with COVID.
