Eugenics David Silver\'s the Virtual

Eugenics

David Silver's "The Virtual Child" -- Oh Brave New World, Oh Wonder -- that has such people (and cloned sheep in it!)

Dolly" was the first sheep ever to make the cover of Time Magazine. This seismic public act of acclaim occurred, not because of her innate charm, or beauty, nor was Dolly the star of an up-and-coming reality television show about wool farming. Rather, she was the first animal ever to be artificially cloned by human, scientific hands, as opposed to a twin occurring naturally as a result of arbitrary genetic processes. This event, warns author Lee Silver, a geneticist at Princeton University and author of "The Virtual Child," is only a frightening precursor as to what could happen to the American family as a result of human cloning. (513) if Dolly becomes the template for human reproductive behavior, warns silver, life and childhood as we know it, will come to a sorry and swift end.

The first human to be cloned would undoubtedly meet with similar fame as Dolly. Perhaps, if the parents allowed it, the child has a similarly prominent publicity 'run' on the cover of Time. But really, what should be featured suggests Silver, are the faces of the family members whom allow this to occur -- which seek to create a member of their family rather than accept the arbitrary nature of human mortality. These individuals who design their children as replicas or super children rather than as relatives by genetic chance will fundamentally upset the balance of nature, physically and psychologically.

Lee Silver's essay upon "The Virtual Child," is from a larger work, entitled Remaking Eden. This plays upon the notion of life as blissful ignorance in Eden. In Silver's view, despite his own academic prowess, the gaining of knowledge is a fall from grace, or at least as a dangerous thing to be feared. His pervasive fear is marked throughout the entire essay. It would have been better, Silver suggests, if we had never known how to clone, despite the potential benefits the science could give in terms of regenerating organs. The potential dangers are too great, he states, if the technology is used to its ultimate extent and possibilities. (516-517)

Silver does not merely argue that our technical understanding of science has transcended our current scientific, ethical frameworks and out societal comprehension of what it means to be human. Given the fast-paced development of what Silver calls "reprogenetics" technology, after all, how could it not? Many observers have noted that the most dated artistic conceptions of are how the past (today's present) was envisioned our future, from H.G. Wells' Time Machine, to Disney's "Tomorrow land," to "The Jetsons." But even though we could not have envisioned the present, we can at least circumvent what may happen tomorrow, Silver argues, with legal strictures. In other words, Silver states that ethically speaking we as a society should quit while we are 'ahead' (or behind) and give up the pursuit of genetic perfection, and also, tragically, the cure to many genetic disorders.

Thus, Silver is bold and politically 'incorrect' when he states that he knows individuals may die because of such a prohibition. But Silver envisions a future society where the rich can buy genetic advantages for their future children, even though such advantages might start innocuously enough, with genetic screening for diseases. The cure of genetic screening, though, will be worse than the disease of the pursuit of perfection. Silver states that the practice of what he terms "reprogenetics" will lead to designer children, social inequity and discrimination against the world's genetic 'have-nots,' as parents begin to screen not simply for genetic disorders, but traits such as homosexuality, obesity, and gender. Genetic screening will generate more prejudice against the invalid, the disabled, and the poor and a permanent genetic as well as social and economic class will be created.

This will fundamentally change the relationship between parents and children, as children will feel responsible for their creation as entire selves from their parents. The parents of children will not simply be the alpha, the beginnings of their children, but also the omega, or end of their child's existence, as they attempt to determine where their children will end up in life, how intelligent their children will become, even what they will look like as adults as well as children, their future careers, and their future hobbies and desires.

How different, one might be tempted to ask, is this today, when more and more children are receiving plastic surgery at younger and younger ages? This desire might originate from the child as well as from the parents, but when the cultural pressure upon perfection is so great, it is hard to see this as a true choice. Even simple environmental influences such as diet affect an individuals' cognitive development. A child raised in the dust of the urban projects might have asthma, which the child would not have had, had that child been raised in a healthier location. Obesity is the bane of the inner city diet, and generations of children's mobility, health, and blood sugar might be affected by their impoverished status -- to say nothing of the fact how appearance may affect one's vocational possibilities. The ability to afford expensive educational enhancement, including preparing for the SATs is controlled by wealth and access, even before genetics come into play.

All of these non-genetic examples point to how, even without genetic engineering, the gap between the haves and the have nots is growing not simply in terms of accruing material assets, but also in terms of physical and intellectual enhancement. Silver would counter, however, that none of these aforementioned examples are excuses for allowing such terrible technology to create a still-further and larger gap. And the notion of genetics takes away even the flimsiest sense of personal accomplishment and power, as these virtual super children will know that their existence is due solely to their parent's largess and ability to manipulate their genes before the children even had a will to manipulate.