Collaboration with Humanities Society

SummaryBy Kirsten

The long awaited collaboration between the ScienZ society and the Humanities society finally happened in this session. Without a doubt, this session was a favourite amongst many where we discussed the ethics of Designer babies and the science behind it all. First, a basic introduction (that only scratched the surface of the growing field of genetics) was given; 3 ways of modifying genes were discussed: pre-implantation diagnosis, TALEN and CRISPR. Interestingly, pre-implantation diagnosis counted as a means of creating a Designer baby because it involved the selection of preferred genes between different embryos before implantation. Though, this may be up for debate. The large difference between pre-implantation diagnosis and techniques such as TALEN and CRISPR were discussed in relation to how this affected the extent to which stronger ethical objections arise.

This led to the discussion of the implications of modifying one’s genes as well as a much needed explanation by the Humanities society of what bioethics encompasses. Following this, talk of an iconic book (‘Brave New World’ by Aldous Huxley) came up, addressing how this impacted people’s perspectives of progressing biotechnology. Next, an eye-opening dialogue on how ‘Designer babies’ are dealt with in different religions was talked about. After that, a conversation about power and responsibility- just because we might be able to achieve a ‘Designer baby’, should we create one? What kind of gaps in society could this grow? How could the law prevent this?

All the different angles taken on this topic was wrapped up with a summary of very common arguments for and against the idea of ‘Designer babies’ and finally the main bulk of the discussion commenced.

Highly underrated points were brought up such as the extreme difficulty of changing a single trait of a baby through the modification of their genes. A common misconception is that traits such as ‘intelligence’ can be easily determined through genetic engineering, and these traits are amongst one of the most commonly discussed characteristics to be changed when it comes to Designer babies along with skin colour, height, etc. It was brought to awareness that, first of all, a lot of traits are often affected not only by genes, but by environmental factors too- a simple idea that is easy to miss. Furthermore, some traits are polygenic! Not to mention, genes can code for multiple traits as well, a lot of which we don’t know!

To conclude, this refreshing mix of views from both the Humanities society, the ScienZ society and the rest of students from school concocted an immensely enjoyable discussion about Designer babies that will extend to other biotechnological innovations in the works today and how they are dealt with in the real world.

Presentation of discussion

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