If you are not perfect, should you have children?

Question

Think if you have a genitic diesease you are likly to pass it on to your kin and potentioally make their life a living hell. The same goes if you were to have other less noticeable effects eg weak immune system or bad eye sight.

To make everyones life better in the future surely it would be a good idea to encourage better 'breeds' of humans to reproduce more. Therefore making the future humans better.

It may be imoral, but would you want your kin inheriting your defects?

Answer 1

mercy. Perfection is such a subjection definition, that i find it impossible to respond to. However, if you are asking if some folks shouldn't reproduce, my answer is yes. Only because of the strong possibility of producing offspring that will have genetically influenced disorders. Reproduction is not our "biological right". Reproduction should be the result of intelligent planning, not serendipitous, irresponsible sexual activity.

Answer 2

This question is not too far off from what could possibly take place in the near future. Unless you are able to concieve naturally, which would pass on all your genetic makeup to your offspring; then you have to go through the invitro fertilization preocess. If you choose a sperm donor, then you are ultimately choosing all the variable factors i.e. sex, body type etc... that would otherwise occur naturally. If given the choice, I'm sure the parents will pick the healhiest, smartest variables they can. The fact that we live in a time where two parents can go and construct a human being in lab, with no defects is amazing and dangerous. I don't know if it's immoral or not to want your child to be perfect, but I certainly think it would be immoral to not allow parents to have children because they are not perfect.
In any case, with the breakthroughs in embryonic and adult stem cell research, most of these defects would be cureable in the future. In the not too distant future, there may be genetic libraries stocked with your own stem cells, so that if you do develop cancer, or if you have a weak immune system, they could use your own stem cells to cure it.

Answer 3

Many defects go along with positive qualities. For example, very high IQ is correlated with allergies, (yes really), learning disorders, depression, and autism. Unfortunatly, there is no such thing as a perfect person. The variations we have serve a purpose - to be sure that our species survives, no matter what environmental changes might come about. If we are all "perfect" for life in 2007 America, for example, what happens when the next big plague or Ice Age hits? What if only the incredibly ugly hold the gene for surviving the plague, and we bred them out of existence 100 years earlier?

Besides, if we are all "perfect" - perfectly healthy, particularly, what motivation is there to get out and improve our lives and find cures for diseases? I think a world full of perfect people would be incredibly dull, actually.

My kin will inherit my defects, sure, but they will also "inherit", by way of my motherly influence, good character and the desire to improve the world we live in. that matters more than DNA.

Answer 4

humans have pretty much "lost" the instinct to breed for optimal physical characteristics but our initial attractions to a prospective mate are based on visual preferences or physical characteristics. It has been noted in studies though when seeking a mate we take into account earning potential and power (in a business sense). That's why you'll see some women with considerably older mates. If you do have a serious genetic disorder it's something you'll personally have to consider. Perhaps it can be monitored and steps taken to minimalize the risk to the child. In the case of eyesight or other minor issues there are many roles and paths we can take to insure a happy life with less than perfect genetics

Answer 5

Before we crucify the asker, consider the extent of current prenatal screening and invitro fertilization where the parents are given the choice which of the viable embryos to have destroyed by the technicians and which to have implanted. People are already acclimating to the idea of discarding viable embryos (some would feel this is discarding human beings) with the intention of avoiding some standard of limited imperfection.
As cold and reptilian as many of us feel this is, I think the next question is whether future generations will be able to stomach what we now consider the soul-less manipulation of babies' physical traits according to parental whims.

Peace and best regards all!

Answer 6

I disagree with the premise of your argument that every ones life would be better in the future if "better" breeds of humans were to reproduce more, and therefore the future humans better. It would neither be better nor worse.

Which would benefit humanity more: a person with a healthy body but a complete moron? Or one with a severe genetic health problem, but a genius?

A healthy moron of a president? Or an Nobel award winning physicists with ALS?

Answer 7

Whoa there! Who IS "perfect"? Are there any guarantees involved in how a child will develop?

My parents passed on nearsightedness, high foreheads, big hands, open minds, intelligence, fine hair and pale skin. There seems to be a family pattern of certain cancers. But you know what? I couldn't have been born to better parents, and I wouldn't change a thing in our family history. Its perfect, as far as I can see.

I was unable to have children. I wish we could have had a little kid with my husbands and my features, combination of our genes. We wouldn't have loved them less if they had neuromuscular disease or bone diseases, both that could have been passed down I suppose, but we would have loved that child anyway.

Maybe your life is a "living hell" because you inheireted something, but more likely you just got raised by people with closed minds.

I have friends who have had all kinds of things that you would consider "a living hell", and in general, most of them are happier than the "normal" people, because it makes us stronger to go through a little struggle (or a big struggle).

Are your hybrid people going to be a certain race? What if one of them has a mental illness, physical deformity or cancer? What will you do with them? The world would certainly be more boring if you got your way.

To prevent the risk of cancer that has taken so many in my family, I don't smoke, drink, abuse drugs; we eat more organic produce and meat, and cook with the "good fats". We exercise and don't use pesticides and chemicals around our house. We can change that risk by getting regular screenings. And as for my big hands, fine hair, nearsightedness, pale skin, and intelligence level they gave me, I kind of like it.

I hope you never have children. Your kind shouldn't reproduce. What you "Breed" is hatred and intolerance and racism.

Answer 8

I know plenty of physically "perfect" (actually, there is no such thing, but what you mean, I believe, is healthy) people who are doing a perfectly horrible job of raising their children.

There's no guarantee that physical health will ensure the production of mentally and psychologically healthy children.
Character and moral fibre cannot be bred into people.

And by the same token, there are plenty of people with extreme physical constraints who live productive lives and contribute greatly to the overall wellbeing of mankind.
The great physicist Stephen Hawking is one notable example.

I do understand in a way what your concern is. There are genetic counseling services for couples to turn to in considering their options under difficult circumstances.
But it's clearly a fallacy to think that having inherited a genetic disease automatically precludes the possibility of living a meaningful life.

Answer 9

I understand what you are saying and that is one of the many reasons why my husband and I haven't had children yet. We both have health problems and some major problems run in our families.

My friends have been having children and my hormones are really kicking in so I have been thinking about it a lot lately. I have come to the conclusion (with medical research to back me up) that just because we have problems doesn't mean our children will and a lot of them are treatable or curable now that were not when we were younger and I believe medical breakthroughs will continue to improve in the future.

I hope that answers your question completely.

Answer 10

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