The one thing you can guarantee of the human race though is we will do it before we really put the thought in to “if” we should do it.
I have ADHD and have 2 boys on the spectrum. Despite the challenges with my younger and higher needs son I don’t know if given the opportunity to play God if I would. As you said it’s an extremely complex question I don’t know if anyone is truly equipped to answer and I’d argue we definitely aren’t mature enough to start playing God.
Personally, I’d much rather have never been born than be as neurodivergent as I am. We all exist without our consent, and I think preventing disabilities and neurodivergence in our children is no more unethical than having children in the first place. I’d never make the decision for people who already exist, I know some people consider it a part of who they are and I wouldn’t want to change that. However, with hypothetical offspring, they aren’t anybody yet. You can’t take away part of a identity that doesn’t exist.
What scares me is the idea that having neurodivergent children could be outlawed. I think neurodivergence does bring a lot of value to humanity as a whole, and while I don’t think there’s anything egreiously unethical about an individual preventing it in their child, the idea that a government could have that much power over how we have children is absolutely fucking terrifying.
This is something I’ve thought a lot about. I hope you appreciate my rambling or at least don’t find me inconvenient to ignore
I do appreciate it and stresses why it’s such a nuanced topic and why I feel we (collective) are not mature enough to make the decision about if we should be playing God.
My 12 year old who is high needs is also the happiest and gentlest boy despite the challenges and when asked he feels he is not different and more importantly, he feels normal.
He also has T1D. I’d much rather we focus CRISPR on solving the problems we currently have than erasing the “inconvenience” of a neurotypical having a kid with autism, ADD or Autism.
The one thing you can guarantee of the human race though is we will do it before we really put the thought in to “if” we should do it.
I have ADHD and have 2 boys on the spectrum. Despite the challenges with my younger and higher needs son I don’t know if given the opportunity to play God if I would. As you said it’s an extremely complex question I don’t know if anyone is truly equipped to answer and I’d argue we definitely aren’t mature enough to start playing God.
Here be dragons.
Personally, I’d much rather have never been born than be as neurodivergent as I am. We all exist without our consent, and I think preventing disabilities and neurodivergence in our children is no more unethical than having children in the first place. I’d never make the decision for people who already exist, I know some people consider it a part of who they are and I wouldn’t want to change that. However, with hypothetical offspring, they aren’t anybody yet. You can’t take away part of a identity that doesn’t exist.
What scares me is the idea that having neurodivergent children could be outlawed. I think neurodivergence does bring a lot of value to humanity as a whole, and while I don’t think there’s anything egreiously unethical about an individual preventing it in their child, the idea that a government could have that much power over how we have children is absolutely fucking terrifying.
This is something I’ve thought a lot about. I hope you appreciate my rambling or at least don’t find me inconvenient to ignore
I do appreciate it and stresses why it’s such a nuanced topic and why I feel we (collective) are not mature enough to make the decision about if we should be playing God.
My 12 year old who is high needs is also the happiest and gentlest boy despite the challenges and when asked he feels he is not different and more importantly, he feels normal.
He also has T1D. I’d much rather we focus CRISPR on solving the problems we currently have than erasing the “inconvenience” of a neurotypical having a kid with autism, ADD or Autism.