Genetic Engineering: The Pros And Cons Of The 21st Century

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Albert Einstein once said, “I fear the day that technology will surpass our human interaction. The world will have a generation of idiots.” Mr. Einstein, sadly that day has arrived. The 21st century already consists of an explosion of digital creation and discovery. People are living longer, diseases are being cured, and global communication is at an all-time high. However, the 21st century has begun to show all the probable danger to come from these discoveries. The theme of the 21st century will be recorded as the age of technological turmoil.
First of all, social media has taken over the world. From only 2002 to 2014 Friendster, Myspace, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram have been introduced. Each of these sites was created to allow people
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Genetic engineering is the deliberated modification of the characteristics of an organism by manipulation its genetic material. There are many potential benefits of genetic engineering. Some include tackling and defeating disease, eliminating illness in young and unborn children, potentially longer life expectancy, and the ability to produce new foods. While these are benefits and could change the world for the better; the cons of genetic engineering outweigh the pros. To begin, genetic engineering causes moral controversy. Many religions believe that these scientists are playing God and that is not right. Also, if diseases are eliminated the world would become overpopulated. Diseases have been around throughout history for the specific purpose of maintaining the population growth. The longer life expectancies today already cause problems in society. Furthermore, genetic engineering can lead to some genetic deficits. Scientists may be able to eradicate one disease, but construct another. Dr. Mae-Wan Ho said, “Genetic engineering is inherently dangerous, because it greatly expands the scope for horizontal gene transfer and recombination, precisely the processes that create new viruses and bacteria that cause disease epidemics, and trigger cancer in cells.” Scientists have no way of knowing how their actions will affect the human race. Moreover, genetic diversity will be limited with genetic engineering. Genetic diversity is essential for a population’s chance to survive and flourish. Charles Darwin termed natural selection. Natural selection says that the fittest individuals in nature will succeed and reproduce. This idea would be greatly affected by a lack of genetic diversity. For example, garden.org states, “Suppose there’s an outbreak of a disease that threatens to wipe out an entire species. The more genetic variability there is within that species, the higher the likelihood that at least some

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