• Should we genetically alter humans to make them more altruistic and communitarian, if we can? 201 Or just go after the "unbelievably small percentage" of greedy oligarchs "at the top of the energy heap" (Kochs, Exxon...)? 202

This can be a really tough and a really easy questions. We are already starting to live in an era in which we are trying to filter certain things out when we create babies. Especially when it comes to fertilising eggs in a lab, there is already ways to make sure your kids do not have certain diseases or develop illnesses. Manipulating the genes and the odds becomes something normal to us, why would it not also be possible to manipulate genes for other things too, e.g. characteristics of the baby and how the are going to develop socially. I believe that a society lives and strives off of different people with different characteristics and beliefs. It would be really monotonous if we just create everyone equal, right? Of course, it has its perks, but what kind of society are we really trying to be then.

Another question is, are these oligarchs already greedy from nature or does being an oligarch make them greedy? Maybe even the fact that they are greedy helped them to be oligarchs in the first place. Maybe if we are already starting to changing our child genes, we should just try and cut these traits out, so they become anything else but greedy and possible oligarchs. But do we really want a society without oligarchs? Is there not something fantasising about the fact that there is someone who has everything, all the money and all the political power to make his way through life. What happens if we have nothing to complain about anymore, nothing to try and remove or possible strive for? Are we just all going to become altruistic and communitarian and be an awesome citizen? Maybe, but possible not. I do believe that we should go after this "unbelievably small percentage" of greedy oligarchs and that is something that we can try and change but it is also something that happens to be a part of life and that makes our society what it is. It will never be perfect because even if we make people nicer and better, there will always be something that does not quite fit. 

This essay

Comment to Tyler and Betty

Total Points: 45