Oral Presentations Abstracts: FROM GENE-EDITED BABY TO CYBORG SOLDIER: ON THE LIMITS TO NEW BIOTECHNOLOGY BY THE EUGENICS MOVEMENT

Abstract

View of Volume 66, Special Issue, September 2021

Biotechnology for Health and Human Performance (BHPC) of the U.S. DOD recently released a research report titled “Cyborg Soldier 2050: Human/Machine Fusion and the Impact for the Future of the DOD”. In this report, Emanuel et al. predicted that ocular and auditory enhancements, muscular control through bodysuit, and neural enhancement of human brain will be feasible before 2050. And not so long ago, the world’s first Gene-edited twins LuLu and NaNa were made by a Chinese Scientist, who was sentenced and fined by the Chinese Government in December 2019, claims that these babies are now immune to the HIV virus. While the biotechnological breakthroughs show the potentials that humans can have different lives than we have now, it’s also worrisome for those unforeseen disadvantages of bio-inventions will cost human too much and too soon, before we have the abilities to stop it.

Along with the developments of biotechnology, it’s not surprised that new bio-inventions will emerge and go beyond our imagination. But, the “artificial selection” character of these bio-inventions also reminds us of the Eugenics Movement which happened only a century ago. In this article, I’ll discuss these two bio-inventions by reviewing the Eugenics Movement. First, I’ll brief the cases of Gene-edited Baby and the CRISPR technology as well. Second, I’ll introduce the Cyborg Soldier and BHPC’s report. Third, I’ll talk about the Eugenic Movement and its consequences. Fourth, I’ll analyze these two bio-inventions from the historical perspectives of the Eugenic Movement. Finally, I will summarize and conclude this article.