Sunday 2 July 2023

Ethical Questions For Creating Human-Like Life

Hmmm. Researchers have created synthetic human embryos using reprogrammed stem cells meaning they do not require human sperm and eggs and taken it beyond the 14 day limit development period after which the embryo in humans begins to form body systems like the gut, brain and lungs.
Scientists have described it as a breakthrough that could help scientists learn more about human development and genetic disorders but i'm a bit uneasy with create living human-like beings only so we can conduct research on them.
The scientists say that thee key phrase is 'human-like' and point to animal models of similar synthetic embryos which are not viable and incapable of developing into a full living being and the 'human-like' synthetic embryos would not be capable of developing into full human babies and do not form
important body structures like a beating heart and a brain.
The synthetic embryo is seen as a chance to increase research into miscarriage and developmental anomalies and this is very important as at the moment they use human embryos but it is unknown if left to gestate fully, would the new embryos develop into full living beings and the only way they will know that is to let one go the full gestation length.
It could be that they are not currently capable of developing much further than the 14-day mark but it is going to have to be attempted else they could be creating a viable human-like life only to cut it short to enable research is done on it and that is a huge ethical and moral question. 

1 comment:

Liber - Latin for "The Free One" said...

and people worry about AI... funny