Csikszentmihalyi's Essay: The Future Of Happiness

C. Ben Mitchell, a professor of Moral Philosopher at the Union University, in his article, “On Human Bioenhancements” (200), argues against the use of human enhancement which has emerge questioning about, the principles of justice, and cultural complicity. Mitchell supports his argument by describing how this method is an unethical behavior by the medical community and how this new technology should not be implement anywhere in the future. His purpose is to persuade his readers not to support this new method which will have a negative effect within our society, and instead of helping our future generation it will destroy our human nature. The author’s audience likely consists of professors, college professors, parents, with some understanding

Over two thousand years ago, Plato wrote in his work Republic ideas about selective breeding, a concept that seemed, at the time, like something akin to science fiction. Millennia later, science fiction became science fact as a new form of science emerged, combining the principles of heredity with social values of human perfection: eugenics. Eugenics can be defined as the process of enhancing future generations through the perpetuation of positive heritable characteristics and the termination of those heritable characteristics deemed negative (“Eugenics”). The status of eugenics has, over time, oscillated, but despite this, aspects of its ideology endure to this day.

Julian Savulescu argues that genetic enhancement is not only morally permissible, but it is morally obligatory to genetically enhance one’s own child. Savulescu presents three points to defend his claim, but his vague language causes his argument to be unacceptable.

Many biologists/geneticists are in favor of eugenics due to the possibility of advancing the human race, limiting disease, and decreasing the occurrence of negative mutations, while others believe eugenic practices are unethical, useless, and have more potential for harm. Eugenic practices have proven to be extremely controversial, so I will focus on discussing the potential impacts of eugenics on the human body, society, and morality.

Since human beings are born, people always try to find a general standard to judge our morality and behaviors. We call this standard as moral compass, people expect that a stable moral compass can become the rules of all human behaviors. In Hal Herzog’s essay “Animals Like Us”, he points out that people have a very contradictory mentality when they face relationship between human and animals becuause people have their own ideas and attitudes about different animals. That is why people do not have a stable moral compass when they face different animals. The same moral issues also exist when people deal with the influences about the new genetic technologies. In Tenzin Gyatso’s “Ethics and the New Genetics”, he talks about the developments

In 1932, Aldous Huxley imagined and wrote about a world where designer baby technology is prevalent in his science-fiction novel, Brave New World. The technology would not come until many years later, but his ideas still hold up today. In the book, there were different classes depending on how genetically modified one was, including Alpha or Beta (“The Public Should Oppose Designer Baby Technology”). Outside of science fiction, though, is real science where an actual baby can be genetically modified before even being born. A designed baby is one that is purposefully shaped to be one way or another through processes including In Vitro Fertilization (IVF), where an egg is fertilized and genetically altered, and preimplantation genetic diagnosis

In today’s world, you can have your baby with blue eyes, perfect height, and how you want your baby to look when is old. Now we can even make a baby be born smart because now scientists are more specialized in genetic and how the genes work. For example, if women can’t have babies she can rent a belly from another woman so she can have the baby but the baby is going to have the DNA of the women who can’t have babies, not of the other woman. Is pretty impressive how today scientist can modify genetically the genes of babies before they are even born. Now in today’s world is almost possible to create the perfect baby if we want. It is impressive that this idea originated from a period of time where there was little knowledge about genes.

The word “Eugenics” was coined by Francis Galton. The term comes from the greek roots that mean “good” and“origin”. In other words, the word means “good birth”, which refers to

Eugenics is the science of using artificial selection to improve genetic features of the population. It is thought that improvement of the human race can be seen through sterilization of people who exhibit undesirable traits and selective breeding. Often called Social Darwinism, the concept was widely accepted during the time of World War I. It quickly became a taboo after World War II when Nazi Germany used it as an excuse for genocide. The thought of improving the human race by manipulating who is allowed to breed can either be appalling or compelling. There are a few appealing aspects to the act of eugenics. If eugenics were applied, the world could potentially see a decrease in disease, a rise in intelligence, and heightened physical aesthetic in humans. But, ethically it crosses many boundaries that have prevented this idea from going into world-wide effect in the past.

Harrison Bergeron by Kurt Vonnegut Jr., The Monsters are due on Maple street by Rod Serling, and Pros and Cons of Genetic Engineering in Humans by Matt Bird all show that a utopian society is destined to fail. The ways of life in each society show that utopian societies are destined to fail. In Harrison Bergeron, the society is destined to fail because everyone is the same and they have strict laws. In The Monsters are due on Maple Street, the neighborhood is destined to fail because people are prejudiced against others and people make illogical conclusions. The Pros and Cons of Genetic Engineering also show that genetic engineering can lead to overpopulation and wars.

DeCorse, 2008, pp. 56-59). The theory of natural selection by Charles Darwin and Alfred Russell Wallace was accepted as the English parson Thomas Malthus published a book in 1797 called Essay on the principle of population. In the book published, Thomas Malthus was warning his fellow Englishmen about most of the strategies designed to help the poor were doomed because of the unceasingly intense pressure of the population growth. It was said that a nation would quickly double its population in the few years to come leading to extreme scarcity of food and a state of great physical and mental distress and discomfort (Berkeley, 2008). Charles Darwin’s theory of natural selection does impact today’s scientific thinkers. A whole field of evolutionary biology in founded on his work. It has been said that Charles Darwin’s influence can be felt in how the Christian orthodoxy that supported and justified most sciences, has fallen away and even in our understandings of human interactions, summed up by the phrase

The discourse community of scientists in the field of genetics attempt to find solutions to problems with genes, and heredity. For over a century, popular articles have played a crucial role by building a communication medium between scientists and their audience who are people interested in keeping up with the upcoming science. These articles have been influenced by changes in the audience, exigence, and constraints experienced by the community. Therefore, by analyzing the changes in the popular articles through the years we can understand the growth of the discourse community. This paper is an attempt to understand what caused the changes, and how it has influenced the outlook of the community by using the articles- “Genetics”

The fears are often fueled by a concern that such shifts in our thinking may allow tampering with the genetic inheritance of species in an irreversible slide to unchecked commodification of animals and finally to genetic manipulation of humans. Sometimes, instead of the slippery slope, the image of a damn burst is invoked. The idea is that if we begin with “transgenic alteration of inherited materials, the process will be pursued to the point where the human genotype is also altered.”

Race and Eugenics are interwoven in the history of the world. Through the ‘discovery’ of race and the idea that there is one superior race; science has linked eugenics which is the study of agencies under social control that can better the racial quality of future generations to the possibility of a ‘clean race’. Through this essay the outline of race and eugenics will be explained further and why ‘artificial selection’ was appealing to nation states like the United States of America in the 20th century.

Throughout the novel Frankenstein, Mary Shelley discusses a plethora of themes. She presents these themes through the characters and their actions. Some of these themes can spark some arguments and raise a few questions. One of these themes presented in Frankenstein is birth and creation and presents a significant topic in today’s world. Can man play the role of God?