So, playing Bioshock through, I got to wondering about 'How would something like ADAM work out IRL?', which lead me to throwing a (yet another) thread revolving around morality and human ethics. My question for CD is 'How would you feel if it was announced they found a way to allow you to modify and rewrite your genetic code?', let's just say they announce all these things like being able to light a fire with your fingertips, shoot electricity, etc. However, the negatives are unknown. How would you feel about it? Would you be strongly opposed to it for moral reasons or would you be one of the first ones eager to give this a shot?

(Note: This isn't asking the plausibility of being able to do these things, but more the ethics around 'playing God' and such. I just thought this could be a fun and stimulating discussion)

Either way I don't think it would change the nature of people as human beings, so I am ambivalent towards the idea. Personally i would only want to be able to do all that stuff if i was the only one who could.

For me, the real concern is people using it for less than friendly purposes. (As you said, it wouldn't change human nature)

I'd be utterly opposed to this on moral grounds.

Frankly I don't believe humanity is ready for anything like this.

Give a man the power of a god, you'd better hope he has the ethics to match. And humanity as a whole isn't even close.

I'll grant you, that's something of an exaggeration, but you get what I'm saying.

Altering bebies in the womb is wrong, but if you're doing it yourself and its your own choice, then that's fine by me. Just don't do it to somebody who can't argue against having it done.

I'm more worried that rich future parents might be customizing their offspring to their liking before they're even born. Imagine being capable of giving your child traits that are deemed good, while at the same time remove undesired ones. They'll be creating "super" children while us normals will be having flawed kids.

Ominous.

I guess I never really answered the OP. I suppose you can alter your genetic code to your heart's content if you're the one doing it to yourself. I don't really approve of "playing god", so hopefully it'll backfire on them, because I'm a spiteful person.

To be honest I don't think that will be legal.

or those specifically desired traits will quickly become undesirable because of that exact tension between social classes. Ever noticed how no one likes the way rich kids dress except rich kids? If only rich snotty people were tall dark and blue eyed then those would quickly become unappealing traits except to gold diggers and people with shallow personalities.

Yup

Agreed.

I'd be very interested in doing it myself though. I'm a person who dreams of being a cyborg, or even a full robot, and the flaws and fragileness that come with being a creation of nature is among the things that bother me most. But I wouldn't alter my genetics just for the sake of it - it should be changes that I'd really value; otherwise I wouldn't take the risk of screwing my poor body up even more. And I think I would be cautious and wait until it's proven to be relatively safe.

I hope it won't ever become a practice among us humans, but it's not really too unlikely.

Now that's pretty interesting. I've been thinking about this myself, and I suppose that it might as well become a real issue in the future, should this ever become "common" practice.

Haha, that's very possible.

Nothing wrong with genetically altering yourself, just do not genetically alter anyone else without their advlt consent to it. As far as humanity not being able to handle power, we already have more than the power of many gods as described in many religions, and we have already mistreated those powers on more than one occasion. It's a form of progress, and it would be mistreated and misused, but not nearly at the same scale as it would be used responsibly and for the good of others I believe.

I mean if we're talking about genetically altering people there are many other good purposes it could be done for aside from weaponizing the body and generally making it more destructive, just if people as a whole focused on positive alterations as opposed to negative alterations I think we could be fine. Regenerating limbs > ability to shoot fire.

then again, #swag and "yolo life" is an image trend that despire all known laws of the universe, fail to repulse every living person who comes acrossed it. So who knows how people would react to "perfect people" who get that way through expensive prebirth cosmetics.

This isn't about altering fetuses or others, it's about altering yourself. I really didn't think I'd have to explain this.

Sincere apologies.

It's okay, you Plebs aren't hooked into the most advanced computer mainframe Pre-War money can buy. I forget how slow the human brain processes logically without a RobCo computer processor helping speed it further. /disgust

Yeah, we feel terrible... Truly...

Did you really think you could make this topic without that issue being brought up? Talk about naivety...

Guess I need to modify my genetics to alter the speed of my brain processing

Considering my OP was entirely about people having the ability to modify their genetic code akin to the style of the Bioshock series, yeah, none of that's really on me when people draw up fetuses and all that dross.

But it's more controversial, and therefore more fun to discuss. Don't you like controversy, Colonel Martyr? Also your topic title was so wide-ranging that this was inevitable, and your final sentence in the OP nearly encouraged this with the "playing God" thing.

But okay, no more master race baby talk!

Edit: And yes, I know this thread is actually about shooting flames and death from your hands and the morals behind altering your genetic code.

Actually no, the principle was of it allowing you to become and do anything. Changing your look, your race, six, build and so many other things I could list on and on. The question is would it be ethical to let people have access to this kind of capability freely?

Mmmm, it's the same reason you don't skip multiple steps to build a house because 'it's quicker'. If it's not done with care, you could create an unwanted chain of events that could damage a portion, if not a large part, of society. IMO had the plasmid/splicing business in Rapture been regulated and testing on basic human safety done before being allowed to be released to the public, the problems that occurred would not have happened. If something as miraculous as gene splicing that allowed wanton cosmetic/genetic changes was found, it'd need to be introduced with care and I'd rather sit back and see how the product works before trying it, if at all.

Yes I know, I was just paraphrasing with a hint of hyperbole.

Okay then. I'd argue that it isn't ethically wrong, but I think it's stupid. While improving our bodies through different means is definitely something we will be seeing more of in the future, is really altering our own genetic code necessary with our rapid technological advances? I'd rather be a cyborg than a splicer. I expressed my disapproval of playing god in my first post, but I suppose we've already been doing it for quite some time now. Another problem is that taking evolution into our own hands might cause us to "evolve" too quickly, and therefore give birth to all kinds of terrible consequences, so therefore I don't think it's wise to give us this freedom.

Anyway, I'm a person with flexible morals and thus it doesn't really bother me from a moral and ethical perspective, but I don't approve of people improving their bodies either, because they weren't happy with how they turned out (granted it wasn't in a bad state to begin with). I think it's lame and superficial. "Gah! I have hazel eyes instead of blue. FML," or "because I'm not a caucasian man I won't be able to be fully integrated in western society, so let's mess around with my genes," or "I want to shoot fire from my hands!"

I know, I just want the topic to be taken serious so we could have some good contribution.

I can see where you're coming from, it is unneeded, but maybe some good could come of it. I never see 'playing God' a viable excuse because, speaking objectively, anyone who's gone to the doctor and used a cast, gotten xrays, had surgery or survived life threatening illness played God because they didn't let nature take its course on them. My concern is the question of 'How does ___ contribute to the greater good of Man?' I always hope we can see 'futuristic' tech we see in games and other works of fiction because, IMO, some of that technology could be useful. Take genetic modification. Say you're fat: Maybe alter your structure to have a faster metabolism rate in your cells and such. Admittedly, I'm no scientist so I can't give you all the details of where I'm going with that, but small contributions like that could go a long way. (I could see some things like the ability to shoot a jolt of electricity or a burst of flame, but only under set circumstances.)