Hilda Portillo

English 2010
Professor Gorrell
Final research Paper
13 Dec 2016

Our Own Captain America

Captain America is the ultimate hero to look up to and fantasize as the "perfect soldier."

With all the popular super hero movies making it to every theater around us lately, we might find

ourselves escaping reality and wondering how it would be to have such superpowers.We live on

the edge of new technology, always waiting for the newest cell phone version, or the latest

gadgets available. We could say that technology is always improving and making our lives easier

and better. In this essay I will review the possibility of creating a "super soldier," the involvement

and interest of the U.S. government. The Transhumanist Movement plays a very important role

and has strong beliefs in genetic engineering. I will examine the new gene editing technology aka

the CRSPR, the advancements on it and risks of using it. A chimera is also rather important to

review and comprehend when investigating on gene editing and body/mind enhancement. It is

also imperative to understand the ethical side to this plan.

There are scientists not only working to make our everyday life more futuristic, but there

are also manyscientists experimenting and making great advances on the idea of enhanced

humans. "In the real world, scientists and engineers are working on a number of cutting-edge

technologies to make U.S. troops faster, smarter and more resilient than their normal selves"

(Harper).

The plan for creating a "super human," for many of us might be just completely unreal

and only possible in a science fiction film, but after much research I can now be certain that we

are not so far from accomplishing this bizarre design.Between scientists, the Department of

Defense, Transhumanist supporters and other groups interested in the development of this new

technology, we find ourselves every day a step closer to seeing a "super soldier."

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 Hilda Portillo
English 2010
Professor Gorrell
Final research Paper
13 Dec 2016

Our army would benefit by altering soldiers DNA with human enhancement technology.

It is known that the U.S. defense officials and military leaders are understandably interested in

producing supersoldiers using human enhancement technology"(Metz). The government sure

seems to be prepared to define the human body and mind in order to protect our country, are you

ready?

There are already possible ways to make our own Captain America come to life, "CRSPR

and similar technologies are used to alter human gnomes" (Adams). This gene altering program

is one of a few which is progressing to accomplish the great transformation to humanity.

Chimeras are a different technology to alter the human genome by mixing it with animal

gnomes. When I think of a chimera I imagine something resembling to a Wolverine man, half

man half animal, with the ability to play both species.

We could all agree that it would be such a great upgrade for our army to have these

indestructible soldiers, but how far can we go with this idea before understanding the risks of

crossing the dangerous line of altering genes to alter our ego? "From MIT to the White House,

people either hate the idea or can't wait for it to happen"(Else). We accept medical procedures to

save lives or cure medical issues, but can we agree that genetic engineering should be more in

line with our ethical views? There should be limits to how far we are allowed to play with the

nature of our bodies and know when we have gone too far. Do we have the capability to

understand the seriousness of unnaturally evolving our body?

Transhumanism

We should begin by understanding how scientists sketch and develop such enhancement

of genes, the interested parties reasons to pursue these studies and why they believe this should

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 Hilda Portillo
English 2010
Professor Gorrell
Final research Paper
13 Dec 2016

take place. The Transhumanist Movement is based in the argument of using science and/or

technology to upgrade the human body and improvethe physical and mental state of our human

being. "Transhuman is a term coined as early as 1966, and thought of as an intermediary stage

between the human and the posthumanor 'transitional human'"(Miller, Sonia). They also

believe that as humans, we hold the right to choose how to live and plan our life, including the

evolution of our bodies as explained by Sonia E. Miller in the article, "Human, Transhuman,

Posthuman: What's The Difference And Who Cares?"

A transhumanist also argues "that human life will be better and even fulfilled in a new

way, if humans can overcome some of the finite conditions now given"(Henriksen). We currently

have a limited term life, as humans we are not out of risk from getting hurt, suffering from

illness, aging and completing a human life term. A Transhumanist will argue that we have the

right and freedom to engineer our own genes, but how would that be possible if scientists are

creating these changes from an embryo level? Is it contradictory to say "the human has the right

to choose how he lives and plans his life"(Miller) and at the same time create "designer babies?"

How can an unborn chose whether they want to live a natural or an engineered life?

There isnt just one technology supported by a transhumanist in order to accomplish

human enhancement. The transhumanist embraces new technologies to extend and enhance an

individual's mental, physical, and reproductive capacities to eliminate aging"(Miller, Sonia). It is

evident that there is no limit to how this enhancement can be accomplished as long as we can

become indestructible and forever lasting. By welcoming and adopting new technologies, the

transhuman advocate that the human condition can be redesigned, allowing for personal growth

beyond the current biological limitations" (Miller, Sonia). They have an optimistic view for a

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 Hilda Portillo
English 2010
Professor Gorrell
Final research Paper
13 Dec 2016

near perfect future life. The idea of transforming the human body and mind in order to continue

developing as individuals is simply unnatural. Whether you believe in a god or evolution,

genome engineering is not supported by either believer; it is not natural evolution and it would

be considered as playing God. On the other hand, we have the governments interest for military

defense reasons; to create the perfect soldier would be a great step ahead for them.

In an interview with inventor and futurist Ray Kurzweil, conducted by Liz Elise it is

indicated that Kurzweil thinks humans and machines will merge within 50 years, he also

believes that being human with limited intelligence and doomed biology was never good

enough (Elise). Kurzweil considers that even those of us against transhumanism are already in

some way or another accepting this new era changes weather were taking medicine or even just

wearing glasses. He said that we're going to get there through thousands of little steps [and once

we] put these steps together and ultimately the world is a different place (Elise). This is one

transhumanist like many others waiting for a time when humans merge with machines, become

smart and live forever (Elise).

Government

There are many scientist helping our government accomplish the "super soldier" and

"someday genetic engineering could combine with technological and pharmaceutical human

enhancements to allow the military to create what it might see as the perfect soldier"(Metz). Our

government just like the governments in other countries such as China, Russia, Germany, to

name a few, would like to be ahead of any other country acquiring this technology. As Deputy

Secretary of Defense Robert Work said, America's adversaries 'are pursuing enhanced human

operations, and it scares the crap out of us'"(Metz). The Department of Defense feels that in order

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 Hilda Portillo
English 2010
Professor Gorrell
Final research Paper
13 Dec 2016

to protect the U.S. it is imperative to have the technology first. Twenty-nine countries-but not

the Unites States- prohibit genetic manipulation of human embryos (Adams), this says a lot

about the stand of our country favoring the procedure.

DARPA, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is a government organization

which was founded by President Eisenhower in 1958. DARPA has launched 4MM, a project to

develop a device that could enable dismounted troops to run a four-minute mile, a benchmark

normally reserved for the worlds most elite runners"(Harper).

The stands on the governments seem selfish all in the name of defending the country, the

United States has always demanded two things of its military: that it be effective on the

battlefield and that it reflect American society and values (Metz). What values will we be

reflecting with genetic engineered soldiers? Will we come across as an egocentric country which

only wants to be feared by the rest of the world? It is a rigid topic I understand, I agree in

protecting the American people as much as the government makes us believe they do, but there

are possible unknown and undesirable results to consider. In the article, How Far Can The U.S.

Military Go To Building A Technology-Enhanced 'Super Soldier'? Steven Metz writes, Defense

policymakers and military leaders must listen to those pushing back on human enhancement,

remembering that society's values cannot be jettisoned in the name of technological advantage.

We must study the values of society and the damage it would cause in humanity to take such step

towards this futuristic approach of a perfect soldier.

Aside from those of us opposed to this human-soldier genetic engineering, we must

recognize that there are already technologies [that] have the potential to change and enhance

humans (Metz).The science fiction is becoming a reality; it is so real that there are laws being

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 Hilda Portillo
English 2010
Professor Gorrell
Final research Paper
13 Dec 2016

created to give altered human beings legal rights (Miller, Sonia). The Converging Technologies

Bar Association also known as CTBA was created to define the terms of being human and as

well as advocate, analyze, and evaluate specific positions on potential, pending or current laws,

regulations, policies and legislation to government and other law-making bodies(Miller, Sonia).

CRSPR

The technology which allows editing the gnomes of living cells by cutting out one gene

and replacing it with another is known as CRSPR (Adams). CRSPR's full name stands for

clustered regularly inter-spaced short palindromic repeats"(Miller, John). As the full name

might not mean much or sound just like a line of gibberish to a non-scientist like myself, this is

the newest novelty to scientists. The initial creation for this tool was to cure chronically

hereditary illnesses, but not long ago the technology was only being experimented only on lab

animals. In April of 2015 "stunned scientists accused Chinese researchers of crossing a strict

ethical boundary by using the technology on human embryos albeit nonviable ones"(Adams).

It is also feared that "new genetic engineering techniques are used to alter viable human

embryos, scientists would then begin creating designer babies"(Adams). Scientists are also

pushing for a law to prohibit human gene engineering all over the world, until such technologies

and side effects are better understood.

With this CRSPR technology any editing done to the genes is also passed on to future

generations. The treacherous and worrisome side of CRSPR and similar technologies is that they

"are used to alter human genomes, the new human beings created would have artificially inserted

genes in every cell and tissue in their bodies including their eggs or sperm"(Adams). The

Chinese experiment lead to scientists agreeing that "the genetic make-up of an organism, carried

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 Hilda Portillo
English 2010
Professor Gorrell
Final research Paper
13 Dec 2016

in the DNA stepped over an ethical boundary that many scientists and ethicists say should

never be crossed"(Adams). I find this statement very strong as we continue to research on this

topic and I wonder why scientists are scared of such technologies, as experts of that field they

know that there are bad consequences to using technologies such as CRSPR.

Since its creation of CRISPR a couple of years ago, "it has been used by biomedical

researchers to create so-called animal models of human diseases using typical laboratory species

such as mice, rats and monkeys" (Adams). CRSPR was also being experimented to" develop

new gene therapies, which attempt to correct genetically based diseases in adults"(Adams).

CRSPR seems to have some innovative ideas to cure illnesses in the human body and that is

great, even I feel excited for such technologies that bring cure and help many people suffering

bad health now days. There are Scientists worried about risks from using CRSPR in human

embryos are unknown and potentially great and that no benefits have been demonstrated

(Adams) for this reason, we should be worried about such technologies and careful how and who

is using them. I do believe that there are lines that should not be crossed, even in the name of

science and with the intention to cure a disease. I strongly take a stand against crossing species to

experiment on and engineering human and animal genes.

Chimeras

According to an article on defining chimeras on the American Journal Of Bioethics, The

original chimera turns out to be surprisingly undefined (Defining Chimeras...). A chimera can

be from crossing different living species; in this case we would cross human and animal gnomes.

We can see this system as to "explore the vexed exchange of humanizing the animal and

bestializing the human"(Ferreira). In other words the idea is to possibly create an indestructible

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 Hilda Portillo
English 2010
Professor Gorrell
Final research Paper
13 Dec 2016

human with animal traits such as the Wolverine. But how far are we from accomplishing this

fantasy? There are already crossed species out there, but if we concentrate on the anima/human

chimeras, well that has been accomplished.

A known case of a chimera is that of adding human DNA to pigs in order to use the pig's

organs for transplants without our human body rejecting the organs. Finding the animal human

genome- the tiniest possible of DNA capable of supporting life- and adapting the pig genome so

it becomes a better source of organs for human transplants (Adee). When scientists discovered

that our bodies rejected pigs organs from the 100% pig, they thought of adding human DNA to

the pigs and in turn we have certain organs from a pig that are now accepted by our body because

it has our same DNA. Now that this much has been accomplished that we know of, how long

before they are able to completely edit those genes to make a human-animal species?

As Ferreira wrote, Human/animal chimeras must be considered in relation to ethics

surrounding cross-species genetic exchanges and challenges to humanism that call the species

boundary into question." There is a great statement, it should be thought first as an ethical

concern, what right do we have to change or create species? Thought many will state that the

purpose for all this experiments are for medical practice, to cure diseases and save lives, we need

to understand everyones intentions towards the creation of transhuman species such as chimeras.

Conclusion

After learning the possible ways to make this unbreakable soldiers come to life, we

should think about doing the "right thing" and must do so by using our humanity and ethical

understanding. Marcy Darnovsky, the director of the Center for Genetics and Society states that

this is a watershed moment in determining whether human genetic technologies will be used in

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 Hilda Portillo
English 2010
Professor Gorrell
Final research Paper
13 Dec 2016

the public interest and for the common good, or in ways that are dangerous and socially

pernicious (Adams). While our government is worried about being number one in defense and

having the best army out there, we need to be concerned on how this is being accomplished.

We do not need a new species or altered indestructible humans in order to prove how

great our Defense Department is. However, we must understand what the government and other

groups such as the Transhumanist Movement are trying to create. It is imperative that we educate

ourselves and make decisions based on morals and principles we have. We must respect the

human body and other species, let nature continue its route, and take care of all the living

creatures instead of experimenting and torturing them.

Those innovative technologies like CRSPR that promise to cure diseases, but in the other

hand have the ability to change the biology of our bodies are also a dangerous device to play

with and should have all the restrictions necessary so that is not used in a harmful way. As far as

chimeras go, it should be absolutely illegal in any place in the world to cross species of any kind

but specially animal and human.

To conclude this fascinating yet controversial topic, I will reiterate my divergence on

creating a "super soldier" and be grateful to let the only super soldier be on a screen while I eat

popcorn and a drink a cold coke.

Works Cited

Adams, Jill U. "Manipulating the Human Genome." CQ Researcher 19 June 2015: 529-52. Web.
30 Nov. 2016.

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 Hilda Portillo
English 2010
Professor Gorrell
Final research Paper
13 Dec 2016

Adee, Sall."Synthetic Humans Here Are Go."New Scientist 230.3077(2016):16-17. Academic

Search Premier. Web.22 Nov.2016

"Defining Chimeras... And Chimeric Concerns." American Journal Of Bioethics 3.3 (2003): 17-
20. Legal Collection.Web. 1 Dec. 2016.

Else, Liz. "Interview: Transhumans Wanted." New Scientist 202.2707 (2009): 26. MAS
Complete. Web. 1 Dec. 2016.

Ferreira, Aline. "Primate Tales: Interspecies Pregnancy And Chimerical Beings." Science
Fiction Studies 35.2 (2008): 223. MasterFILEComplete.Web. 1 Dec. 2016.

Harper, Jon. "How Technology Could Create 'Super Soldiers'." National Defense C1.753
(2016): 32-35. Academic Search Premier. Web. 29 Nov. 2016.

Henriksen, Jan-Olav. "Is A Finite Life Such A Bad Idea? Transhumanism And Theological
Anthropology." Dialog: A Journal Of Theology 54.3 (2015): 280-288. Academic Search Premier.
Web. 8 Dec. 2016.

Metz, Steven. "How Far Can The U.S. Military Go To Building A Technology-Enhanced 'Super
Soldier'?." World Politics Review (Selective Content) (2016): 1-3. Academic Search Premier.
Web. 29 Nov. 2016.

Miller, John J, "The CRSPR Conundrum." National Review 68.4(2016). Academic Search
Premier. Web.11 Nov.2016.

Miller, Sonia E. "Human, Transhuman, Posthuman: What's The Difference And Who
Cares?." Futures Research Quarterly 20.2 (2004): 61-67. Academic Search Premier. Web. 1 Dec.
2016.

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 Hilda Portillo
English 2010
Professor Gorrell
Final research Paper
13 Dec 2016

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