Response to James Watson's April 1 Lecture

Mar 29, 1999

Dear Jimmy,

Thanks for inviting me to the seminar. It was my first Nobel laureate lecture. Sorry for getting passionate about eugenics. James Watson is correct in saying that "bogeyman" stories do not invalidate the real opportunity to eliminate genetic diseases from the human race. But he is very, very naive if he believes that such power over genetics will be used peacefully and productively. Already the much cruder selection practice of infanticide and abortion has changed the makeup of Chinese society, with something close to a 60/40 ratio of men to women. That's eugenics. It's also highly destabilizing to society. What do you do with an excess of men? Send them to the army.

Ultimately, eugenics and its ilk will be used by powerful men, not only as Hitler did, but also to support their power and prestige. When Moses brought his wilderness hardened band of renegades into the Jordan River valley, he was opposed by one "Og, King of Bashan". Og was said to be 9 feet tall, a member of the ruling/military class that ruled the Amorite kingdoms. God had one command for all Amorites (as well as a select list of similar tribes)--total destruction.

Goliath was a remnant of that ruling class, coming from the town of Gath, which was, at David's time, under the power of the sea people, the Phoenicians, which explains their presence after 400 years of Isrealite rule. I can only suppose that they found this "eugenics" program of the Amorite kingdoms too tempting, too useful to terminate. It was under David, then, that the last of the Amorites were elimated.

What could have caused God's severe demand? What did these people do that deserved this treatment? Is there anything a 1 month baby can do that would deserve annihilation?

Yes. Remember the Ebola virus? The way the Africans handled the crisis was to seal up the hut, and shove food in the door. If the food went uneaten for a day, they set fire to the hut and burned it to the ground. It was the only way to stop the virus.

Genes, viruses, eugenics and sin. They are all things that pass from father to son, from generation to generation. Someday I will have the guts to write a theology of genes. I don't think I can handle the criticism yet.

If you would like to read a longer piece on the subject, let me refer you to my web site:
On Cloning


Pax,
Rob

---

TOP
r*bs@rbsp.info
(Due to spammers, delete asterisk)