Oryx And Crake's Future

The concept of change within character is accepted by society to be an indisputable truth; however, when faced with a case where this notion proves false, it is overlooked. Throughout Margaret Atwood’s Oryx and Crake, Crake’s character seemingly has two shifts; his transition from Glenn to Crake and his shift in personality after meeting Oryx. However, when analyzing the actions of Crake and the descriptions provided through Snowman’s recollection of the past, the audience is able to see otherwise. In Atwood’s Oryx and Crake, contrary to the conventional perspective, the antagonist, Crake, shows no development as a character throughout the entirety of the novel to disprove the notion of change.

Genes are a complex part of human life, and make each of us different and special. But what if there was a choice where you could genetically alter your child, making them disease free and astonishing athletes? It sounds almost too good to be true, to have your very own designer baby. For the good of human species, we should be allowed to alter human genetics. With all these amazing abilities and unlimited changes we could make to our children, it would be like shopping for clothes at a mall. This may sound like a dream come true, but it can lead to many problems in the near future. Trying to change human genes takes away each person's own individuality, and could cause people to segregate the people who were not genetically altered. Even if it can make beautiful, healthy children, it has too many problems than benefits to actually be any good for humans.

In this TED talk video Paul Knoepfler is discussing the topic of genetically modified babies, or in other words designer babies. Part of what Knoepfler is saying is that parents in the future will have to choose between having a natural baby with no modification and having a designer baby through with the help of a machine called CRISPR. I appreciated that he looked at both the positive and negative consequences of this new technology throughout his speech. One of the positive outcomes could be a generation of healthier babies that are immune to diseases such as HIV and AIDS. On the other hand, these babies could grow up to become extremely narcissistic because they were genetically modified to be smarter, more athletic, and more attractive than natural babies. There will always be two sides to new technological advancements, the good and the bad, but I think that if we proceed to research with caution we can lessen the chance of mistakes and perfect the process over time.

Renowned Physicist Stephen Hawking once said the following regarding genetically engineered babies, “With genetic engineering, we will be able to increase the complexity of our DNA, and improve the human race. But it will be a slow process, because one will have to wait about 18 years to see the effect of changes to the genetic code.” Like Mr. Hawking stated the potential negative effect of having a baby through this process would not only take eighteen years to see a minimal effect of babies procreated this particular way. Although we strive to

In designing an engineered baby, it is never a guaranteed that they will be born unharmed or mentally stabled. The tools that are used can potentially harm the embryo, leaving it to be destroyed, if the perfect baby is not created it is eliminated. Genetically manipulated gene are recognized to cause serious diseases or disabilities after studies are done. A gene can often have more than one usage. While it can be used to cure a disease, and help stop an inherited illness, this study should not be done on living embryos. It causes more harm than it does good, affecting and destroying the unborn causing harm. Also creating a designer baby can cause a link to racism. In the book “A Brave New World of Designer Babies” by Sonia Suter, it explains how designer babies are linked to racism and how thanks to (neo)eugenics people might want to use this to eliminate or reduce the prevalence of ethnic groups. This is a perfect example of why genetically modified humans should not be allowed. It will cause harm to children, and causes a division between children and young adults. For instance, schools, parks, playgrounds, and many more public zones, will be divided. A child can also be picked on because they are designer children, or they can be bullied by not being designer babies, and not being in the perfect image. It can cause serious separation and divide children into adulthood. This will make individuals feel bad about themselves and will affect their mental state. Having a

CRISPR, gene transfer therapy, genetic testing, and in vitro fertilization have all lead us closer and closer to making “designer babies” possible. But, as a society are we ready to embrace a “designer baby generation”? Furthermore, are we ready to embrace people’s motives for participating in genetic modification? To me this is interesting because people’s motives for designing their baby can’t be judged. One could easily claim that by picking traits on their baby they are only trying to give the child the best life possible. How would one judge if a parent is attempting to normalize disability in their family or only wanting the “perfect child”? Does this give rise to another eugenics movement? And if we are trying to keep up with China- is this wrong? By doing so we would potentially advance society, however, would we advance society too fast? Will we overpopulate the

Some promoters believe that this technology is improving nature’s system of evolution. Although, others believe that DNA modifications are unnatural and create superior cliques that negatively influence the laws civilizations will have. Thus, all the facts relating to “Designer Babies” need to be highlighted to prevent the destruction of the human race. Progression has limitations, and when limits are tested, humanity

The phrase “designer baby” was not added to the dictionary until 2004, but the idea had existed in the form of the eugenics movement since Sir Francis Galton published his book Hereditary Genius in 1869. Galton’s research suggested that intelligence is hereditary, and he believed that success is due to superior qualities that were passed down generation through generation. His research further suggested that personality traits and mental abilities were also hereditary (Plucker, 2013). Eugenics, a term coined by Galton in 1883, advocated for human breeding restrictions so as to improve the biological make-up of the human race (Steen, 1996). Technology since then has advanced greatly, and designer babies are now a very real possibility.

Oryx and Crake is a novel that follows the narration of a character named Jimmy, or Snowman. Although the novel caters specifically to this character, I do not believe he is the most important person. Instead, I feel the most noteworthy character, the one who truly sets things in to motion, is Crake.

Technology has made leaps and bounds over the past several years; it has come to have tremendous effects on how we live our lives; from transportation to how quickly we can access information. Recently, technology has begun changing the lives of children, especially infants. A new form of genetic engineering can genetically modify the DNA of an embryo to achieve specific or desirable traits; this is referred to as “Designer Babies”. This procedure will ultimately change lives, for better or for worse. While it may seem to most that designer babies are beneficial, they will actually cause more harm than good.

Famous for futuristic and apocalyptic storylines, award-winning authors George Orwell and Margaret Atwood challenge the strength of relationships within several of their works of literature. Specifically, within the novels 1984 by George Orwell and Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood, characters find themselves haunted by their unsuccessful relationships and grasping at the remains. However, romantic relationships in the novels’ dystopian societies are dealt a bad hand from the very beginning and are unable to thrive under the oppression created within society. Whether it be the unorthodox social views on intimacy or the undesirable effect on character trait, oppression abolishes significant relationships within the two novels. Unsustainability

For Crake, the simple act of envisioning a scenario gave it the possibility of being real. This foreshadows Crake's future actions and the creation of his Crakers.

more research put into it and will have to let people know with these designs if their children will have a chance of some consequences with a possible disease. Baby gene modifications could also be the cause for many unknown diseases that will lead to having no cure for doctors to be able to care for their patients. This can lead to outbreak around the world that can cause much harm because there will not be a cure for people that get a disease from being edited by their parents before they were born.

With this biotechnical advancement, scientist could have the ability to create new biofuels, medicines, and foods, and potentially change the occurrence of diseases due to defects in DNA sequencing. Along with that, by allowing for the modification of DNA, researchers would be able to analyze DNA sequences and the function of specific genes. With more testing and the creation of more precise technology, designer babies may be more of a possibility than one might think. With targeted mechanisms like CRISPR, defects due to genetic errors can be overridden, and maybe even eradicated, leading to healthier and genetically stronger

How does it sound to walk into the doctor’s office, choose what attributes you want your baby to have, and then having that exact baby 9 months later? Although this may seem quite harmless to most, the negative effects of designer babies are tremendous: the lack of diversity in our population, violation of a specific set of laws designed to protect humans, going against Christian views, and even destroying the roots of human nature. With genetic engineering biotechnology, such as Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (or CRISPR), new and unique altercations are being done to revolutionize many aspects of our lives. Along with astounding benefits that can come from these biotechnologies, many people have come up with crazy ideas, such as these designer baby ideas, that could be potentially harmful to our society.