One thing that's always fascinated me about Frankenstein's monster is the way Victor created him with the intention of beauty and surpassing perfection. However, the end result was something ghastly. I can't help but think of the ability to design exactly what your offspring will look like, with the modern day concept of "Designer Babies."
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,989987,00.html
http://www.scienceprogress.org/2011/04/one-step-closer-to-designer-babies/
The first article provided is much older, but it introduces the concept of genetic modifications to embryos before they begin to develop, in order to create exactly the effect parents want. Although initially, said modifications were limited to adjusting gender, this article speculates that "within two decades" there could be ways to adjust height, hair and eye color, body type, personality - anything a parent could want to choose about their child.
The second article, much more recently posted, explains developments in "noninvasive" prenatal testing. This new, safer, and easier way of testing the mother's blood at 5 weeks is under development and being tested for commercial use.
Currently, they are only releasing it to test for certain disabilities, such as Down syndrome. The article is quick to point out that no testing is foolproof (yet), because statistics can be misleading. Parents could decide to terminate a pregnancy because of a disability their child could develop. (Tie in to the abortion posts from earlier.)
All of this information aside, these two articles and the idea of Designer Babies (think Brave New World) can be a little scary, and it leads me to two different trains of thought, one relating to Frankenstein and one relating to our modern world.
Victor essentially creates his own Designer Baby when he builds his creature. Is that moral? Is it wrong to choose what you think is the most attractive quality to put in your child? Should parents be able to choose that for their children? And should Victor be able to take action now that the choices he made did not turn out the way he wanted them to? Likewise, if a parent uses genetic modification to create their "perfect child" and something goes wrong, can they hold it against the child, or do anything to change that? Does it deny a fetus (designation of "human" is based on your personal beliefs) any basic human rights to their own DNA if a parent wants to define their standard of beauty, either inward or outward, and then apply it to that fetus, or is it the right of the parent to make that decision? Is this just a step into the future, and a way to use technology?
This is really interesting! The parallel between parents deciding to choose the genetics of their children and Victor essentially building his monster with the most ideal parts suggests that what Victor did is immoral.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I think that the concept of "designer babies" is immoral. It's a selfish attempt to control natural processes and I don't believe parents have the right to dictate the innate qualities of another human being, even if it is their child. The only difference between these children and Victor's creation, is that it is debatable whether or not the creature is actually human. If he isn't, it is more realistic that Victor would have the right to create him so meticulously - like a "Designer Baby"
I think this comparison is really interesting. I agree with Sara that creating "designer babies" is completely unethical. A parent should not be able to determine physical characteristics of their children. I can understand parents wanting to make sure they have healthy babies, but not everything in life works out as you plan it.
ReplyDeleteThis is obviously shown in Frankenstein when Victor attempted to create a beautiful human but ended up with a terrifying outcome. Even though Victor did not get what he was hoping for, he is still responsible for taking care of the creature and providing it with basic human rights, just as a parent must still provide for their child, even if it is born with a birth defect.
Personally, I think the creature is human because it is obvious that it has human feelings of wanting and acceptance. Although the creature may look terrifying, he was still made from combining parts of other humans. Victor definitely created a "designer baby" in a way that he thought was beautiful but then denied it human rights because it was not as he wanted it. That is not right.
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ReplyDeleteVictor's decision to select what he sees as attractive features for the creature is not necessarily immoral. I don't think many people would deliberately try to make a creation like Victor's unattractive, anyway. Some people may consider deciding the creature's appearance as taking away the creature's rights as a human, but then again, no one has the choice to alter their own appearance. In any case, I agree with Abby in that the creature is physically and emotionally a human. He is complex, he shows depth, he functions as humans do, and he has the capacity (as all humans do) to actually decide to be either good or evil and to act on that decision.
ReplyDeleteI also think that parents should not be able to decide their child's appearance for them. This choice should be protected, even for a fetus, because the fetus will ultimately develop into a human child with human rights. Also, interfering with biology in this way might have any number of unknowable consequences for future generations. Basically, being modern doesn't have to mean being dangerous. I personally don't see what good could come of deciding the appearance of a healthy offspring before it is born. I think that if a new invention or type of technology that seems questionable cannot benefit us in a positive way, it probably isn't much of a step into the future. The advancement of the human race does not solely rely on science, but also on the ethics and morals we try so hard to define and act on.
I can see how being able to alter your baby's genes could be helpful in cases such as down's syndrome and other health issues, but when parents start to actually choose the physical appearance of their kids, I start to think that society is seriously warped. To be "ugly" is to be unacceptable and unwanted, and that's something that parents feel they can't just leave up to biology any more. I don't really think it's a question of fetus rights, but more of a question on where our society is headed. We value beauty above all else; when will we get our priorities straight?
ReplyDeleteIn theory, designing your baby sounds great... but if the parents end up choosing the most desirable traits and then "mess up" like Victor did, I feel like that would lead to a lot of frustration on the parents' end. I think that rather than be upset at the child, they'd be frustrated at themselves; they were the ones who chose the traits, after all.
Nowadays, there are so many options to change your appearance if you so choose ("choose" being the operative word here) that I feel like "designing a baby" is just moot. Parents should let their children grow up and decide whether or not they are happy with what biology gave them.