Why genetic engineering is banned in the Star Trek universe

[Pawelk198604]

Roughly I know why Eugenic Wars and so on, but Dr. Bashir from DS9 is good despite fact he's been genetically engineered.

But seriously. Do you think that genetic engineering should be prohibited, for example, increasing IQ, if so, why?

[Scotius]

Looks like screenwriter though "Soulless genetically engineered supersoldiers that will kill us all" and not "Cure for all genetic diseases and general improvement of human health". Which is kinda dumb, considering how generally optimistic Trekverse tended to be. As for prohibiting genetic research: You should ask that question to a family who lost a child because of cystic fibrosis.

[magnemoe]

Looks like screenwriter though "Soulless genetically engineered supersoldiers that will kill us all" and not "Cure for all genetic diseases and general improvement of human health". Which is kinda dumb, considering how generally optimistic Trekverse tended to be. As for prohibiting genetic research: You should ask that question to a family who lost a child because of cystic fibrosis.

Yes, most technology can be abused however abusing genetically engineering is hard compared to most others. You hardly need it to create soldiers except general improvements, perhaps an focus on tolerating damage.

[Themohawkninja]

The only people who I normally see against it are the ultra-religious people who think that we shouldn't play God, irregardless of the scientific and medical benefits it may bring.

I feel that it should be encouraged. It's a way to increase our knowledge of genetics, and furthering science is worth any potential problems.

[WhiteWeasel]

My idea is that elitism would be major problem. I could see a holocaust against the "imperfects" or the other way around against the "mutants". Imagine if nazis were superior than others. We'd never hear the end of it. Also reminds me of the time I watched GATTACA for biology class.

Also in an in universe example that genetic alteration caused mental instability in test subjects, In fact the only reason why Dr. julian Bashir wasn't expelled from starfleet was that he was the only one that isn't mentally ill from his procedure.

[Brotoro]

They banned it in the Star Trek universe because almost any genetic engineering they tried just resulted in people with funny bumps on their forehead.

[EvilotionCR2]

I think it should be banned in real world too.Imagine in the future,rich families have geneticaly perfect children.But poor people struggle from disseases and do physical work for rich just to have something to eat.I would totally ban it today.(and I'm not poor).But I think that something like more arms would be ok.

[Themohawkninja]

I think it should be banned in real world too.Imagine in the future,rich families have geneticaly perfect children.But poor people struggle from disseases and do physical work for rich just to have something to eat.I would totally ban it today.(and I'm not poor).But I think that something like more arms would be ok.

There will always be rich and poor people, and would you rather have everyone in the world able to suffer from <insert disease here> or only a portion of the population?

[Fractal_UK]

Besides, genetic manipulation is an excellent form of preventative care, once the procedures become common place it would be far cheaper simply to perform some genetic manipulation on every child in order to eliminate the predosposition toward particular illnesses than it would be to provide healthcare to try and cure those problems later in life. If you were designing a government healthcare program of the future, that is the first thing you would pay for because it would vastly curtail the need for further medical expenditure.

[Brotoro]

I think it should be banned in real world too.Imagine in the future,rich families have geneticaly perfect children.But poor people struggle from disseases and do physical work for rich just to have something to eat.I would totally ban it today.(and I'm not poor).But I think that something like more arms would be ok.

If we want workers to do the manual labor, we should genetically engineer apes. Nothing could go wrong.

[EvilotionCR2]

If we want workers to do the manual labor, we should genetically engineer apes. Nothing could go wrong.

In start of 20th century russians wanted to breed humans and apes for easy workpower.They runned out of apes before womans.They never suceeded thought.

[EvilotionCR2]

Besides, genetic manipulation is an excellent form of preventative care, once the procedures become common place it would be far cheaper simply to perform some genetic manipulation on every child in order to eliminate the predosposition toward particular illnesses than it would be to provide healthcare to try and cure those problems later in life. If you were designing a government healthcare program of the future, that is the first thing you would pay for because it would vastly curtail the need for further medical expenditure.

Here in Slovakia,there is almost no money even for roads...I cannot imagine how our economics could handle something like that.

Edited August 4, 2013 by EvilotionCR2

[Helix935]

The Russians tried that in the cold war but it didn't work

[EvilotionCR2]

There will always be rich and poor people, and would you rather have everyone in the world able to suffer from <insert disease here> or only a portion of the population?

The nature intented it this way,why to change it?

Edited August 4, 2013 by EvilotionCR2

[Fox62]

The nature intented it this way,why to change it?

So, let me guess. Your one of those people who think humanity shouldn't try to change things, because nature intended it to be that way? If everyone thought like you, humanity would have never left the stone age!

[EvilotionCR2]

So, let me guess. Your one of those people who think humanity shouldn't try to change things, because nature intended it to be that way? If everyone thought like you, humanity would have never left the stone age!

I'm not against that and I'm fan of space exploration,but I don't think that we should change or bodies at that level.

[Fox62]

I'm not against that and I'm fan of space exploration,but I don't think that we should change or bodies at that level.

Then how exactly do you propose we deal with the cosmic background radiation that would cut most interstellar missions a bit, eh, short?

[Pawelk198604]

I think it should be banned in real world too.Imagine in the future,rich families have geneticaly perfect children.But poor people struggle from disseases and do physical work for rich just to have something to eat.I would totally ban it today.(and I'm not poor).But I think that something like more arms would be ok.

So you defy, mainly on the basis that ordinary people can not afford it., So no one should have access to this technology. A little silly type of reasoning, by way since I can not, no one can

[magnemoe]

In start of 20th century russians wanted to breed humans and apes for easy workpower.They runned out of apes before womans.They never suceeded thought.

Need brain floss badly. Apes and humans are different species so I doubt you would get any offspring.

[magnemoe]

So you defy, mainly on the basis that ordinary people can not afford it., So no one should have access to this technology. A little silly type of reasoning, by way since I can not, no one can

True stuff only the rich can afford like cars should be restricted. This was true in the beginning, however mass production made cars so cheap everybody could get them.

Note that genetic engineering involves manipulating molecyles, has far more in common with building computer chips than cars.

If we make it safe enough to use outside of life threatening diseases it would be done pretty much automated so the process will be cheap.

[Kimberly]

I think genetic engineering has great potential for curing disease and whatnot, but as an autistic person, I'm also rather afraid of its abuse--there are certainly many people who would be eager to remove autism from the gene pool. The scariest thing is not its abuse by an evil cabal of scientists, but rather, it's abuse by masses of well-intentioned but misguided people. When technology advances further, so that these risks become major, I would support a ban on these kinds of applications of genetic engineering.

[Tex_NL]

Need brain floss badly. Apes and humans are different species so I doubt you would get any offspring.

So are donkey's and horses and look how useful mules are. Being from different species does not mean they can't interbreed though usually the offspring is infertile.

MartinVD most likely refers to the Humanzee experiments by Ilya Ivanovich Ivanov. Ivanov's work may sound far fetched but it did happen.

[Themohawkninja]

So are donkey's and horses and look how useful mules are. Being from different species does not mean they can't interbreed though usually the offspring is infertile.

MartinVD most likely refers to the Humanzee experiments by Ilya Ivanovich Ivanov. Ivanov's work may sound far fetched but it did happen.

It never worked though, as I understand.

Someday, genetic engineering on a human level will probably happen, however this enters the realm of human cloning, and at that point, politics, science, religion and philosophy will all clash. Will we ban all human testing, all testing period, or let it happen, because our society values science over everything else? Only time, and human decision making can tell.

[magnemoe]

So are donkey's and horses and look how useful mules are. Being from different species does not mean they can't interbreed though usually the offspring is infertile.

MartinVD most likely refers to the Humanzee experiments by Ilya Ivanovich Ivanov. Ivanov's work may sound far fetched but it did happen.

I know, however mules cant reproduce, so you had to continue using humans. My shock was mostly about using ladies for this.

It never worked though, as I understand.

Someday, genetic engineering on a human level will probably happen, however this enters the realm of human cloning, and at that point, politics, science, religion and philosophy will all clash. Will we ban all human testing, all testing period, or let it happen, because our society values science over everything else? Only time, and human decision making can tell.

We are doing plenty of research on genetic to cure diseases. Also to modify plants. The hard part of doing it with humans outside of curing deadly diseases is that you need very low chance of fails. Current genetic engineering has an very low chance of success. For plants this is an minor cost issue, you modify thousands plant and select the ones who works out.

However things are improving, banning it will not work, still legal on animals and an wish to use it to treat diseases so technology will improve over time. Also different countries will have different rules.

[BFGfreak]

I believe that in Star Trek, Genetic Engineering on a sentient scale has ended in failure for just about all the major species, as a result these few elite species (humans, klingons ect.) have developed sort of a phobia concerning such research. If you read the Eugenics wars series Earth was nearly sterilized not once but twice by these few supermen in their power struggles between each other, so you can imagine the fear in most people concerning such technology.