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onto gene-editing computer software, we will be engaging competition. Perhaps another system develops humanoids
in a replicator tango. that live like sterile worker ants for their queen; they
would be hindered by many of the traits that we humans
This will likely bring about the ultimate slippery slope, cherish so dearly. Like ants, if these humanoids harbor a
because genetically engineered babies have enhanced sense of individuality, or retain sexual organs, or feel love
survival capabilities. Aspiring parents and insurance toward another, they could be compromising to the
companies alike will embrace generating such reproductive success of their queen; therefore, these traits
superhuman offspring. As supply rises to meet demand, would be selected against, and with their loss so too we
some cultures will begin to view birth via gene-editing lose humanity.
clinics as the gold-standard, and sexual reproduction will
be increasingly viewed as immoral. Regardless of the specific humanoid forms that would
replace us if we allow human genetic engineering, the
Gariépy warns that, as the gene-editing market grows, bottom line is that evolution by natural selection will no
several companies will have their own patented DNA longer be taking place on our DNA. It will be taking place
selection system. At that point, natural selection will no among various companies and their patented formulas
longer be taking place on the printed humans, but rather instead. This is very dangerous. We must fight against the
selection will be taking place at the level of the competing forces of our obliteration.
gene-editing systems. The gene editing program that most
effectively produces will put other programs out of As a humanist, I value human beings above all other
6
business. Therefore, as Dawkins’ The Selfish Gene would forms. I value us, with all our faults and rough edges,
suggest, the systems that print humanoids that behave with all our diseases and deformities, because that is us.
maximally in the service of their source codes, the queen, We can cure disease without changing our genome. We do
would be selected. This process of natural selection could not need to “cure” the human condition. We do not need
go on ad infinitum. to walk off that cliff. Let us stay here in this field together
one more day, as brothers and sisters of the human
One can only imagine the variety of beastly ways nature
species. n
would debase these humanoids to protect the source code.
Perhaps one gene editing system will be equipped with an Illustration courtesy of shutterstock.com
artificial intelligence system that pursues something like
®
Monsanto’s Roundup strategy to wipe out its

1 Planck Collaboration (2015). Planck 2015 results. XIII. Cosmological parameters. Astronomy & Astrophysics.
2 Oparin, A. I. (1924) The Origin of Life, translation by Ann Synge. In: Bernal, J. D. (ed.), The Origin of Life, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London, 1967,
3 Dawkins R. (1976). The Extended Phenotype. Oxford University press.
4 Stein R. (2018) Facing the Backlash, Chinese Scientist Defends Gene-Editing Research on Babies. NPR.
5 Gariépy J.-F. (2018) The Revolutionary Phenotype. Elora Editions.
6 Dawkins R. (1976). The Selfish Gene. Oxford University Press.

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