In the classic Greek tragedy, the first stage in the tragic chain of events is the Hamarita - the fatal flaw. Hamartia, an injury committed in ignorance (when the person affected or the results are not what the agent supposed they were) seen as an error in judgment or unwitting mistake. Another common interpretation of [...]
Also tagged flaw, mistake, moral, tragedyThe mother’s drive to protect her children is the most powerful heroic instinct we know. Having children is a way of ensuring our genes are passed on to the next generation. Humans usually have just one child at a time, so they are prepared to do virtually anything to ensure their children are safe.
Natural [...]
Is this purely eugenics or a biologically justified form of technology assisted natural selection? What kind of life would these prenataly selected embryos will lead as adults? Knowing their parents have invested greatly in creating a cancer-free child, could they ever justify keeping an unhealthy lifestyles? Are they free to make any possibly damaging life [...]
Also tagged choice, eugenics, futureAccusations of responsibility can be not only condescending and insulting, but also distracting, drawing attention away from what is really at stake: often questions about role-related responsibilities and about the degree to which human beings should try to shape the world in which we find ourselves.
When Andre talks about the degree to which we [...]
There is something strange in the discussion around genetic responsibility and eugenics. On the one hand natural breeding with no consideration of genetic information is criticised as irresponsible and blameworthy conduct. With prenatal screening and embryo selection parents cannot be blamed for suffering because they have done the best they could to prevent it.
However the [...]
So how does a mutation carrier gets to have a biological child AND avoid being blamed for endowing them with a potentially harmful genetic inheritance? This is where science comes into play and the genetic screening is performed on a selection of embryos instead of after birth.
This screening technique - called pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) [...]