More Than Human
A new face transplant is but the latest in the never-ending search for cures for the diseases and accidents that plague humankind. But what begins with the best of intentions in relieving pain, distress, and suffering can be abused and used for other ends and purposes than originally intended.
A cure that restores function and capacity can be used for enhancement and developing more-than-human being. An emerging philosophy, transhumanism, suggests that we have now reached the stage of evolution where we can decide and control not just our own destinies but what kind of human beings we should be. Its main aim is for individuals to delay death and to survive, fit and fully functioning, for four hundred years or more. Genetic engineering and the new advances in the neurosciences make it possible to change our bodies, replace failing parts, and enhance mental and physical skills long past the normal three score years and ten.
What drives medical research and its applications to the rest of life? Well, money, of course, is crucial and makes the research world possible. A cure for diabetes will enrich the company that finds and markets it. Fame, too, can motivate scientific researchers. Nobel Prizes are attainable. But also driving medical research is a deeper drive of seeking immortality and cheating death. We want to live for ever—or at least as long as is humanly possible, and science is the means to that end.
If motives matter, so do consequences. What would our world be like if we could all live for four hundred years? Imagine the impact on work. What would a reasonable retirement age be? What of pensions, social security, health care? Would not our basic institutions of marriage and family be under even more pressure than they are today? If we were married for three hundred and eighty years, how would our other relationships be affected? How long could and should we continue to have children, and what kind of relationships would we have with them? How and when would young people grow into the roles of power and responsibility that we know, enjoy and need? In a world of overpopulation, the extension of human life, while perhaps a delight to individuals, might become a social and global disaster.
Given the long lives of the Old Testament patriarchs, life seemed a gift to be enjoyed. But perhaps part of what it means to be human is to learn to live with limits. That is not just a personal challenge, but is also a challenge to the motivation, means, and consequences we engender in medical scientific research.
Research is too important to be left to big business and scientists on their own. Society and individuals need to be clear what kind of world we want, how we view what it means to be human, and how far we will go in order to pursue our dreams of full health, happiness, and eternal life.
Dr. E. David Cook is a Senior Fellow of the Trinity Forum, a Fellow of Green College, Oxford, and the first Holmes Professor of Faith and Learning at Wheaton College.
3 Responses (comments are closed) • Provocations, Character and Ethics, Science and Technology, Tue 23 Jan 2007
Whether our lives are short or long, the limits we live by will always be there. Man will surely die. A family friend had a massive heart attack several years ago. At that time he didn’t know if he believed God existed or not. While many of us prayed for God to reveal Himself to this loved one, and prepare his heart for knowing God’s Son, a doctor worked hard to prolong his life. The extra time was what this man needed to have the opportunity of salvation. He lived 2 1/2 more months before he passed away to be with the Lord. In that 2 1/2 months he praised God and told many about this great love he had found. Yes, the world’s resources may become taxed beyond belief, if man’s life expectancy increases greatly, but I thank God He gave our loved one more time. Only God knows the exact places, and the amount of time, each person is to dwell on this earth and God governs it so that man will see his need and search after Him.
on 2007 01 24
David, I really enjoyed your wonderful piece in Provocations today. As a confirmed exerciser and “health nut” I recognize that at times my desire to live a long and healthy life is less than healthy. The insidious engine of a culture that worships youth can fire my furnace more than I willingly admit. Thanks for reminding me that there are bigger economic interests at play when I succumb to vanity.
on 2007 02 02
A Bible Study I have been frequenting is studying Genesis. {Enter: the Tree of Life] Someone made a point that if God hadn’t withdrawn Adam and Eve from that tree, life would be an Eternity seperated from God.
If that’s true, then perhaps life would be death in a truer sense. Now, maybe God would still have sent Messiah (but how would he die for our sins?) and thus perhaps we could still go to Heaven eventually, but still, our not living forever is an act of God’s grace. Absent from the body is present with the Lord. In God’s timing, bring it on.