Eugenics David Silver's the Virtual Term Paper

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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.

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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.

But ultimately, Silver makes several fundamental assumptions about the human character that are not backed up with facts. He assumes that parents, especially wealthy parents, will take great delight in making copies of themselves, or of children whom they have tragically lost through death or accident. He does not discuss how the parents of children with genetic defects might be helped, not just in terms of their children's health, but how a sick child can destroy the health of an entire family. Silver seeks to preserve what lies behind our ears, in his words, what makes us uniquely human -- the power of intellect, yes, but also the power that comes creativity, innovation, and chance. He neglects to consider how the democratic and erasing influence of illness and disease can wipe such wonderful aspects away from the slate of the human mind and character.

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