Our bodies are well adapted for the lives our ancestors lived, but the mechanism is far from perfect for modern-day lifestyles. After sitting in the same position for an hour, does your back hurt? Do your legs ache after you have taken part in a long race? In fact, when we run, most of our weight is borne by our legs and a single joint in our backbones. Our spine is not strong enough to support a lot of weight and running eventually causes back pain, also caused by sitting for long periods of time. Either way, our daily lifestyle interferes with the way our bodies are fashioned and the functions they are designed to perform.
Today, most jobs require us to sit and work for as long as eight hours, and doing that everyday commonly causes back pain. If we were to genetically modify our bodies by increasing the number of spines in our body from one to three, we would have more support. While running, we could rely on three separate joints to carry and equally distribute our body weight. Along with our aches and pains, we are also defected in various ways. For example, the human face isn’t symmetrical. Some have an eye that is slightly bigger or smaller than the other. Also, our skin cannot protect itself from harsh environments and we have to use different creams for it.
The perfect human body should have dark skin pigmentation as it effectively reflects light. And the things we can do with better vision! There will be no need for glasses any more. We could use an extra heart to pump blood more efficiently, which would make us more active. Last but not least, more grey matter upstairs would also be quite welcome.
All this might be possible in the future due to genetic modifications, but with it comes great responsibilities as well. It will raise countless moral and ethical issues, as well as conflicts. Some may side with science, and others with religion. People may use this kind of technology in the wrong manner. Instead of improving human lives and making this world a better place, wars may break out over the ownership of such a technology. Nations possessing this technology might not share it with the rest of the world, or create humans perfect in every way to increase the chances of survival for their own race.
Most people think that we should not tamper with Nature. However, genetic make-overs could save millions of lives. It could stop a disease from passing on to the next generation. But it could also cause the destruction for mankind if not used properly.
Even though we live in a polluted world, how many of us are ready to abandon our current lifestyle loaded with the comforts of modern technology? Quite frankly, no one. We would rather keep complaining about our aching backs or use glasses for clear vision. We could manage our time and schedule and do yoga to relieve the mind and body of stress. If we change our lifestyle, we can live a fulfilling life without having to change our genetic make-up.
Mankind is still far from conducting genetic make-overs. But even if we do have a chance of using this technology, would we really want to? Then again, would we not be interfering in God’s work?
Our bodies are well adapted for the lives our ancestors lived, but the mechanism is far from perfect for modern-day lifestyles. After sitting in the same position for an hour, does your back hurt? Do your legs ache after you have taken part in a long race? In fact, when we run, most of our weight is borne by our legs and a single joint in our backbones. Our spine is not strong enough to support a lot of weight and running eventually causes back pain, also caused by sitting for long periods of time. Either way, our daily lifestyle interferes with the way our bodies are fashioned and the functions they are designed to perform.
