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elfsThe South Koreans recently lit a fire under the entire cloning debate by cloning a human embryo as a manufacturing tool for the production of stem cells. While some people might think of that as icky, I think it's a step in the right direction, towards a future where the human genome is simply what it is, a biological process to be used and directed as needed; it is human consciousness, personhood, the ability to interact and change the world that I find sacred.
While this scares a lot of people, I think it shows up one major issue. Conservative administrations might be able to bully their major allies into banning embryonic research in the West, but Korea, which has its love-hate relationship with China more on the love side these days at least economically, has both the fortitude and the backing to ignore Washington's demands to stop doing research.
There isn't a single medical technology we have explored that has not led to a fix, a cure, a therapy. If embryonic stem cells harvested from clones lead to significant cures for troubling conditions-- especially those conditions that become evident as senescence settles in, then no country wishing to commit suicide will surrender those technologies.
Because the countries that do adopt it will have a significant gain in the productivity of its citizens. They'll be younger, faster, smarter, less prone to injury, able to carry their experience and skills further and build on them for longer. If the U.S. refuses to participate in this innovation, our conservative leaders will have doomed us to economic suicide.
I'm predicting they won't.
Imagine it's 2020, and the Koreans, after much experimentation over the last ten years, have a cure to reset the brain such that conditions like Alzeheimers and Parkinsons can be reversed; one may need the therapy again in ten years, but in the meantime your physical brain is younger, more whole, more like it was when you were twenty.
Americans would flock to a therapy like that. They would sell their cars and mortgage their houses to get at it. If Congress forbade it, they would break the law to get at it. The economic prospects of the countries that sold it would soar-- and those that denied sink terrifyingly.
Those who deny us the future will take the blame. The social conservative movement will crumple and fly away in the face of a real desire from real people for ten more years of life.
While this scares a lot of people, I think it shows up one major issue. Conservative administrations might be able to bully their major allies into banning embryonic research in the West, but Korea, which has its love-hate relationship with China more on the love side these days at least economically, has both the fortitude and the backing to ignore Washington's demands to stop doing research.
There isn't a single medical technology we have explored that has not led to a fix, a cure, a therapy. If embryonic stem cells harvested from clones lead to significant cures for troubling conditions-- especially those conditions that become evident as senescence settles in, then no country wishing to commit suicide will surrender those technologies.
Because the countries that do adopt it will have a significant gain in the productivity of its citizens. They'll be younger, faster, smarter, less prone to injury, able to carry their experience and skills further and build on them for longer. If the U.S. refuses to participate in this innovation, our conservative leaders will have doomed us to economic suicide.
I'm predicting they won't.
Imagine it's 2020, and the Koreans, after much experimentation over the last ten years, have a cure to reset the brain such that conditions like Alzeheimers and Parkinsons can be reversed; one may need the therapy again in ten years, but in the meantime your physical brain is younger, more whole, more like it was when you were twenty.
Americans would flock to a therapy like that. They would sell their cars and mortgage their houses to get at it. If Congress forbade it, they would break the law to get at it. The economic prospects of the countries that sold it would soar-- and those that denied sink terrifyingly.
Those who deny us the future will take the blame. The social conservative movement will crumple and fly away in the face of a real desire from real people for ten more years of life.
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Date: 2004-03-10 04:52 pm (UTC)Which is why Bush had to dance such a careful dance on the subject. According to Rove's Unified Theory of Republican Re-Election, he needed to throw his (anti-modernist, religious) base a bone on this one. But he must, under all circumstances, avoid telling someone that they or their loved ones must suffer and die to slave the conscience of a minority of religious zealots.
Economics trump just about everything
Date: 2004-03-10 05:33 pm (UTC)Today, on Marketplace was a story about outsourcing. E-Loan has an outsourcing option for loan applications processing. Do it domestic, it takes longer, but you employ good Americans. Outsource, and it's quicker. E-Loan decided to make the outsourcing option available as an option, rather than outsource the processing without telling anybody and then suffering in the press when it was discovered later.
Guess what? According to E-Loan, over 80% of the applicants choose to outsource.
-Erik
A Small Current Example...
Date: 2004-03-10 07:30 pm (UTC)I would humbly point out that we're already seeing something similar in this country, albeit on a much smaller scope. As the baby boomers age there has been an increasing trend for even people who were young republians during the summer of love to embrace (gasp! choke!) medical marihuana. Even younger social conservatives crack in the face of the idea of denying grandma some relief during chemo. Law and order is all well and good... until you're confronted with someone you love suffering through end-stage cancer in severe pain because the DEA thinks that using "too much" pain killer sends the "wrong message". You'll find those people using a needle and a spoon to give them relief, and damn the consequences.
I've often found myself postively cringing in frustration at the constant stream of neo-luddite legislation being spewed forth in some sort of mindless panic toward the nascent technology of "cloning". I suppose what makes me even more annoyed is how correct Varley was when he predicted just that sort of social reaction to the possibility of being able to produce someone with identical genetic material. I was more optimistic at the resilience of the human psyche toward such things, and was wrong.
However, you've spotted the inevitable loophole: How much would someone pay to have ten more years with all your mental and physical resources intact? Mortgage their houses, hell... they'd mortgage their (now extendable) lives. You literally would see a whole new class of indentured immortals, ordinary people who could extend their lives by centuries, even if a large portion of that time was dedicated to serving the people who held the keys to Ponce de Leon's fountain.
Hmmm... there's an interesting (if disturbing) side thought... unethical geneticists inducing immortality in a modern day equivalent of the shanghai, a life extension form of slavery. Ugh, I better stop before I talk myself into becoming a neo-luddite as well.
no subject
Date: 2004-03-11 03:01 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-03-12 10:45 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-03-12 04:21 pm (UTC)