Page 218 - Flaunt 170 - The Phoenix Issue - Bosworth

Love yourself in spite of what you cannot change, the steam hisses at me. Perhaps turning to psychedelics seems a tad ex- treme, but in order to rid ourselves of deeply-in- grained societal beauty standards, maybe extreme measures are the only way. I wish I could say that the feeling was permanent, but it never was going to be. Unlike mushroom induced delusions (or maybe, a reality?), selfies are forever, and every time I doubt my worth, I look back into my own untroubled face and am reminded of how I should always feel. *** Outside my living room window, another blazing Isla Vista sunset draws onlookers to the bluffs. I wonder, are any of them even re- motely aware of the rebirth that took place on the shores below them, and that they, too, are just a few caps and stems away from the same mindblowing fate? Probably not. DESIGNER BABIES AND FUTURE PARENTS The Human Genome Project has never been more fashionable Written by Lynora Valdez The year is 2020 and we are allergic, sensitive, and particu- lar. We know what plagues us and what we should eat based on our blood type. We’ve used apps to help us track our menstrual cycles, meditation apps to get us through cognitive emergencies, and even third-party ambulances for non-life threatening hospi- tal visits. Modern technology and those slim blue lights we carry with us allow for ease of navigation through very little human interaction. The smartphone brings the ability to carry around a camera and a computer wherever you go. Cell phones distract, but they also connect. It’s the reason we use DoorDash, and the reason we know where our friends are at all times. It’s a crutch, a tool, and a friend. In the same way we have seen smartphones evolve from one design and one option to too many to list, we have also seen restaurants scramble to accommodate every type of food sensitivity. We know what we want, precisely, and it’s all too easy to get. We want to control everything, and we want to ensure outcomes. Never has the certainty of success been so desired and so required, especially on the matter of child-rear- ing. So if you could provide your family with certainty, that your child would look and grow without any genetic defect and with your father’s same baby blues, what would you say? How much? Designer babies have been in our brains as soon as we could fathom them, but now that China has actually bore twin girls with genetically modified DNA, are we ready? CRISPR, best explained by science journalist Aparna Vidyasagar, “is a simple yet powerful tool for editing genomes. It allows research- ers to easily alter DNA sequences and modify gene function. Its many potential applications include correcting genetic defects, treating and preventing the spread of diseases and improving crops. However, its promise also raises ethical concerns.” This method of gene editing also gained popularity by using the technology of an ancient bacterial immune system. CRISPR cuts DNA in places where it sees weaknesses and comes in with very cool protein to help mend and co-regulate the other strands into replicating without the mutation. This works well in school and community laboratories where there is control and measure. Anything less is tricky, notes molecular biologist Ellen Jorgensen. She explains that the benefits of CRISPR are many, but the circumstances of the environment influence a great deal. She notes that the controlled scientific environment of the gene editing experiment can’t really protect you when you send a genetically altered organism out into the world. So now the question is: can you put a lid on Pandora’s box? It’s possible we spend entirely too much time thinking about ourselves, and that we are just as narcissistic as our selfies make us look, but I think we are smarter than that. To complete- ly ignore the possibility of dire genetic consequences, would be foolish, and frankly, somewhere we have been before. Take Wild Wild Country, a documentary about a bioterror attack in Oregon, and the cult that carried it out. The members of this cult organized at several locations of restaurants and infected hundreds of people with the salmonella virus. These individuals were mentally compromised given that they were part of a cult that was keen and aware they were deliberately harming others, but what do you make of billionaires wanting to customize their offspring in order to create the “ideal” child? Designer babies bring into question a dystopian society where your niece and nephews exist entirely biologically but their younger siblings, whose DNA has been altered to prevent certain diseases, have been genetically engineered. This could ostracize them, and the kids could exhibit certain characteristics that are not deemed desirable by their parents. 212