The Book of Epigenesis
THE BOOK OF EPIGENESIS
The approach of a ‘Brave New World‘
in our lives will present a mountain of startling and shocking things. I
have covered before on this program that ‘future shock’ and the leap
into the ‘uncanny valley‘
will be very hard for the majority of people that are still caught up
in 19th century arguments over evolutionary advancement and the fears that mankind has overstepped his position and has decided that he can also make man in his own image much like the God that created him.
It is only startling – and in some cases frightening – because it is so new and, with future shock, it can be seen as sudden. Last time I ventured into this territory I was speaking of binary gender roles and the policing of gender in social networks as a sign that changes to how we view gender and biological changes to the body will be part of the consensus dialogue in the not too distant future.
The unfortunate thing that happened is that the age-old sexual preference arguments erroneously were brought up and the dogma from religious interpretations gave way to a discussion that could not rise above the antiquated dogma of religious piety.
As I was attempting to steer the conversation towards the biological binary gender associations and changes, there were a few people who felt that what I was doing was pushing the so-called gay agenda. This was not the case. The case I was making that in the future social placement with gender and even type of human will not be clear and with misunderstanding there will be a lot of unfounded prejudice that will create a schism where people will be repulsed by the new unfolding and revealing.
It will be like creating a whole new human history, like writing a new book of genesis that can be renamed ‘The Book of Epigenesis‘.
Philosophical and religious traditions will most likely change within the next 10-15 years and to some extent we will also be seeing new discoveries and scientific breakthrough that will challenge the prevailing views on genetics.
All attitudes and knowledge will have to evolve upon the revealing of new discoveries and any debates will become hollow and worthless in a world that sees a future of breakthroughs is transgenics, revelations dealing transgender and gender assignment, and transhumanism where mankind will unite with machine to become more than the sum of his parts.
We are now beginning to see breakthroughs that are showing that human genetics are flexible and can be designed to make an even better human being or an H+ individual.
We are looking now toward the threshold of the renaissance in science and its inevitable marriage with technology. Most people are unable to comprehend the structure and behavior of matter from its smallest organism , the sperm to how it can be shaped into the biological machine, that is beautiful, perfect and guided by a super organic computer known as the human brain.
Old human philosophies about his place in the universe and relationship with God will be pushed into an ultra hyper reality or dimension as the new matrix is being constructed and successfully being put in place so that the quality of human life can continue.
The only thing that will hold us back is that fear that what we are doing is rendering the human form into something that may not totally be human or human as we have known it. Beyond the breakthroughs with prosthetics, bionics, and other augmentations to the body, we have geneticists that are literally rewriting the human story.
The rapid growth of these trends will – like it or not – continue to move exponentially into our nebulous future.
The benefits of such growth are being ignored and the ‘fear factor’ of such growth has been the focus. Much of it is based in religious dogma and whims that have no real qualifying base for disallowing the growth of mankind.
We have been urged by ‘the good book’ to walk upright, multiply, replenish the earth, follow the example of the creator and – in all cases – seek out what is praiseworthy and what promotes life and progress on this remarkable gift of a planet.
As we are now, we see ourselves as unique. But how unique are we?
We face a lot of revelation in the future concerning our existence in the universe and whether or not we are someone else’s property or if we share the vastness of space with other brothers and sisters or even entities or creatures that are not even anthropomorphic. Wouldn’t that be the ultimate test of our ability to have tolerance or even acceptance of an intelligent being that looks nothing like the human form?
Once again, you now have a responsibility to be ready for the philosophical challenges that face us in the not too distant future. There is no more room for hate, or misunderstanding, it is time for us to open our minds and learn about uncomfortable things and try to cope with the abrupt changes that come with future shock.
This
morning as I was eating breakfast and looking over the many stories of
the day, I saw a picture of an embryo on the Drudge Report. The headline
in bold type said ‘Dawn of the Designer Babies.’The first thing that went through my mind was that the future had arrived today and that I am living in times that I caught a glimpse of in many movies that deal with the subject of reproductive and genetic sciences.
It looks as if Bloomberg news has a section on its website that deals with future sustainability. The headline that graced their sustainability category was “Dad May Join Two Moms for Disease-Free Designer Babies.”
The report was very fascinating and backs up earlier speculation that perhaps designer babies have already been born and that their identities have been kept secret. The report also is an accompanying buffer to the recent Associated Press story that is reporting that, “Federal health regulators will consider this week whether to green light a provocative new fertilization technique that could eventually create babies from the DNA of three people, with the goal of preventing mothers from passing on debilitating genetic diseases to their children.”
The process works by replacing potentially variant DNA in the unfertilized eggs of a hopeful mother with disease-free genes from a donor.
Bloomberg writes: “Because the process would change only a small, specific part of genetic code, scientists say a baby would largely retain the physical characteristics of the parents. Still, DNA from all three — mother, father and donor — would remain with the child throughout a lifetime, opening questions about long-term effects for this generation, and potentially the next. Ethicists worry that allowing pre-birth gene manipulation may one day lead to build-to-order designer babies.”
Are we ready for a world where human beings could have the genetic makeup of three parents?
The Associated Press continues: “The Food and Drug Administration has framed its two-day meeting as a “scientific, technologic and clinical” discussion about how to test the approach in humans. But the technique itself raises a number of ethical questions, including whether the government should sanction the creation of genetically modified humans.
The FDA panel will hear from several prominent critics who oppose any human testing of the approach, arguing that it could be a slippery slope toward “designer babies,” – in which parents customize traits like eye color, height and intelligence.
But the field’s leading U.S. researcher will be on hand to explain and defend his work, which he describes as “gene correction,” rather than “gene modification.””
Keep in mind that if a female is born with this genetic change and gives birth to other children, we have created a modification to the human genome and have created a whole new type of human being.
Scientists warn that permanent change of the human germline has never been done before and so we do not know what kind of humans it will produce.
Earlier this year in January, we reported that this was happening or that it already did happen in the article ‘Anatomical Heroism‘. We expressed concern over the scientific worry that altering the human germline– in effect tinkering with the very make-up of our species – is a technique shunned by the vast majority of the world’s scientists.
To quote the article:
“The ethical dimensions of the science to create super humans should be a bigger concern than it is. There really is no information being reported in the mainstream narrative that tells us that there may be superhuman beings among us or that the military industrial complex is creating an unfair advantage where normal citizens will be in subjugation under the control of enforcers and protectors with enhanced strength.”
With that in mind, for Ground Zero listeners the prospect is nothing new, however the mainstream catching up becomes an intriguing introduction to epigenesis and is a constant reminder of how we are able to bring you break through stories despite the fact that there are plenty of naysayers who will declare that God will not allow anything to go so far as designing babies in our own image, and capturing the mind and downloading it into an avatar so that people can live for a longer period of time.
Technology and advancements of science give us the ability to also implement measures of preventative medicine. Advancements in genetic research are on the ready to provide each parent with a blueprint of their child and even the ability to create designer children. This also gives parents a way to see if their child will be born with defects. Unfortunately, in the future some parents might be pressured to abort a baby that may be considered undesirable.
As the London Times reported back in their 2009 article, ‘Genetic Mapping of Babies By 2019 Will Transform Preventive Medicine‘:
“Every baby born a decade from now will have its genetic code mapped at birth, the head of the world’s leading genome sequencing company has predicted.
A complete DNA read-out for every newborn will be technically feasible and affordable in less than five years, promising a revolution in healthcare, says Jay Flatley, the chief executive of Illumina…
A baby’s genome can be discovered at birth by a heel-prick blood test, similar to the one that is already used to screen for inherited diseases such as cystic fibrosis.
By examining which genetic variants a person has inherited, it is possible to identify raised risks of developing an array of conditions, including cardiovascular disease and many cancers. Those at high risk can then be screened more regularly, or given drugs or dietary advice to lower their chances of becoming ill.”
Biotech companies are now offering test screenings for babies to detect Down’s syndrome. Abortion opponents fear that the technology may prompt more couples to terminate pregnancies. Advocates for the disabled worry that more of them may feel pressured to abort.
They also fear that if the number of those born with the condition dwindles, there could be more discrimination. Ask yourself honestly, if you knew that your child would be born with horrible defects, would you allow it to be born?
In the future there would eventually no reason to have advocates for the disabled. The promise of transgenics and transhumanism means that this will all change.
Again, the London Times notes: “Genotyping services, which examine about 2million of the genome’s 6billion DNA letters for clues to disease, are already available to consumers for about $1,000 (£700). Those with deeper pockets can have their whole genome mapped for about $100,000 (£70,000).”
Now breakthroughs have reached the mainstream and more and more people can no longer deny the reality that awaits us.
The prospect of designing our children and future generations is an issue of values and policy.
With all of the advantages we may want to see there is the potential for a dystopian future along the lines of ‘Gattaca‘ or ‘Brave New World‘. This most certainly would overturn American notions of equality, opportunity and human rights.
It is also proposed that mapping a baby’s genome could kill its potential by placing it in a propensity class. The idea of a race of superior humans and having genetic defectives as slaves or working class would be the norm.
The idea of eliminating genetic defectives could win out in a world obsessed with concerns of worldwide sustainability.
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