Healing, enhancement and the human future
by Denis R Alexander, Jubilee Centre:
This Paper reviews some recent examples of genetic engineering and brain science that make human technoscientific enhancement a pressing moral question. Healing and different types of enhancement are compared. Two rival world-views are considered, Transhumanism and Christianity – with contrasting visions of life after death – world-views which come to strikingly different conclusions concerning the path that leads to true human enhancement.
Recently Jennelle Stephenson from Florida was dramatically healed using genetic engineering from her sickle cell anaemia – a disease that prevents oxygen being delivered properly to the body’s tissues.[2] Or was it enhancement? Healing refers to our physical, mental and spiritual restoration to the state in which we found ourselves before becoming ill and/or to the state which is experienced, on average, by the rest of humankind. The term ‘enhancement’ is a little trickier to define and here we will consider four types:
Transhuman enhancement (Type A) is probably best known from films, sci-fi literature and computer games. It refers to physical or mental enhancements that go well beyond anything found in present humanity as typified, for example, by the epic 2009 American film Avatar, set in the mid 22nd century, in which scientist ‘avatars’ are operated by genetically matched humans. To start bringing sci-fi worlds into our own bodies, more than 3,000 Swedes have chosen to have microchips implanted in their hands which contain personal details, credit card numbers and medical records.[3] A wave of the hand pays for a train ticket or opens a security door – just a small taste of what is yet to come.
Individual enhancement (Type B) refers to the enhancement to the individual over and above their own previous abilities, but yet remaining within the range of abilities presently found within human populations. A disabled athlete may use artificial legs to enhance their running speed, but the speed is not greater than that displayed by the world’s best runners.
Prophylactic enhancement (Type C) involves technological processes that prevent disease. At one level these are familiar and well-established: vaccination; daily statins to reduce blood cholesterol to prevent heart disease and strokes. But now new technologies, such as embryo editing discussed below, are raising more difficult questions as to how far we go with Type C.
Christ-centred enhancement (Type D) refers to the Christian’s vision for God’s work in their lives that makes them more like Christ, enhances their relational health, and prepares them for the age to come. This concept of human enhancement is shaped by the overall biblical framework of creation, fall, salvation and eschatology – the latter referring to the new heaven and the new earth promised throughout Scripture (Isaiah 65:17; 2 Peter 3:13; Revelation 21:1–27). Type D enhancement may incorporate aspects of Types B and C, but this involves some challenging questions: how much healing should we expect now?; and at what point does the Christian’s hope for wholeness in the present evil age become hubris?
Here we focus on two current areas of technoscience, genetic engineering and brain control, that serve to illustrate and highlight the distinctions between healing and these various types of enhancement.
Related Posts
Tags
Share This
