As the global COVID-19 scourge appears to recede, questions
remain over the source and morphology of a virus that had locked
down two-thirds of humanity over the first half of 2020. It may
take years to satisfactorily decipher this extraordinary episode in
human history.
Nonetheless, the novel coronavirus was not germinated in a
vacuum. The type of research conducted at the Wuhan Institute of
Virology had ominous analogues worldwide. These included the quest
for super intelligence and the development of interspecies hybrids
or chimeras.
Genetically-Enhanced Competitiveness
What began as a scientific mission to remedy congenital defects
has rapidly morphed into a global race to create designer babies,
super soldiers and transhumans
through the aid of biotechnology and Artificial Intelligence. 21st
century eugenics is tacitly justified by the need to boost
“national competitiveness”.
China leads the way here. In one revealing instance alone,
genome sequencing giant
BGI Shenzhen had procured and sequenced the DNA of more than
2,000 people – mostly Americans – with IQ scores of at least
160. According to
Stephen Hsu, a theoretical physicist from Michigan State
University and scientific adviser to BGI:
An exceptional person gets you an order of magnitude more
statistical power than if you took random people from the
population…
BGI Shenzhen intends to become a “bio-Google”
that will collate the “world’s biological information and make
it universally accessible and useful”. From 2012 onwards, it
began to collaborate with the
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Scientific endeavours like these are based on the assumption
that an assemblage of smart samples will help in the identification
and transplantation of optimal bits of DNA into future generations.
It is not dissuaded by the nurture over nature debate, even after
exhaustive studies have failed to establish genetic variants
associated with intelligence. For example, a 2010
study led by Robert Plomin, a behavioural geneticist at
King’s College London, had probed over 350,000 variations in
single DNA letters across the genomes of 7,900 children but found
no prized variant. Curiously, most of the smart samples procured by
BGI Shenzhen were sourced from Plomin’s research activities.
Periodic setbacks will not deter the proponents of
“procreative beneficence” who argue that it is a human duty to
augment the genetic codes of future generations1. Failure to do so
is couched in terms of “genetic neglect” and even child abuse2.
If this sounds eerily familiar, look no further than the worldview
that once animated Nazi Germany.
The eugenic zeitgeist has gripped China in a big way. Under its
Maternal and Infant Health Care Law (1994), foetuses with potential
hereditary diseases or deformities are
recommended for abortion. At the rate Beijing is building its
eugenic utopia, the definition of serious deformity may ultimately
include a genetically-diagnosed lower IQ.
Instead of raising an eyebrow, the law precipitated a headlong
rush to select “intelligent” babies through methods like
preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD). The idea behind PGD is to
screen and identify the most promising embryos for implantation and
birth. Combined with CRISPR gene-editing tools, next generation
Chinese citizens are expected to exhibit remarkably higher IQs –
at least according to bioethicists who fret over a future marked by
the “genetic haves” and “genetic have-nots”. China already
has three
CRISPR-edited babies whose current fate remains unclear.
In the aftermath of the COVID-19 contagion, the availability of
“smart samples” would have increased exponentially and may
dovetail nicely with the vaccination agenda of the
Rockefeller Foundation and Bill Gates. Incidentally, Gates grew
up in a household that was heavily invested in population
control and eugenics.
Our smart societies may inevitably face the existential question
of “live-lets” and “live-nots” down the line. The
orchestrated rebellion towards selective extinction, if it occurs,
has a tragicomical public face: A 17-year-old Swede who unceasingly
exhorts the world to “listen to the science” and “listen
to the experts” but who has little time to listen to her own
school teachers.
What can future
designer babies contribute to society? For one thing, we will
be missing individuals like Beethoven (deaf); Albert Einstein
(learning disability/late development); John Nash (schizophrenia);
Andrea Boccelli (congenital glaucoma) and Vincent van Gogh (chronic
depression/anxiety). A future Stephen Hawking (motor neurone
disease) and Greta Thunberg (Asperger’s Syndrome – allegedly)
may be genetically disqualified before birth.
It is now an inconvenience to consider intelligence as a result
of peer interactions, human environment and personal adversity.
Mapping out the complex and sometimes unpredictable interplay
between 100 trillion synaptic connections in a human brain may take
centuries. Genetic manipulation is implicitly regarded as the
eugenic wormhole that will accelerate the emergence of a global
smart society.
The late billionaire paedophile,
Jeffrey Epstein, was a prominent proponent of this eugenics
philosophy. Epstein intended to breed a “super race of humans
with his DNA by impregnating women at his New Mexico ranch, genetic
engineering and artificial intelligence.” Welcome to Lebensborn 2.0 and
it is all about saving the environment and humanity. For now!
Prominent scientists linked to Epstein’s transhumanist
fantasies included “molecular engineer George Church; Murray
Gell-Mann, the discoverer of the quark; the evolutionary biologist
Stephen Jay Gould; the neurologist and author Oliver Sacks; and the
theoretical physicist Frank Wilczek.” The late Stephen Hawking
– who will ironically flunk the genetic pre-screenings of
tomorrow – was another Epstein associate. Are misanthropes in
charge of humanity now?
Eugenics-driven national competitiveness is a tacitly growing
obsession among major powers. Its hyper-materialistic focus is
encapsulated by an analogy used by Russian scientist Denis
Rebrikov:
It currently costs about a million rubles ($15,500 at the time)
to genetically change an embryo—more than a lot of cars—but
prices will fall with greater use…I can see the billboard now:
‘You Choose: a Hyundai Solaris or a Super-Child?’
Will that be an energy-efficient, coronavirus-resistant super
child who will instinctively lead a low carbon-emitting lifestyle?
The road to hell is indeed paved with fanciful intentions.
But why stop at children? From
genetically engineered horses in Argentina that are supposedly
faster, stronger and better jumpers to
super-dogs in China that are comprehensively superior to the
average mutt, the DNA of the entire natural world may be slated for
a revolutionary redesign in the future.
Crouching Chimeras, Hideous Hybrids
We however cannot create a future generation of superhumans
without being adept at recombining genetic sequences across
species. That is the logic guiding eugenicists. As a result, a slew
of chimeras or interspecies hybrids have been spawned with the aid
of CRISPR. These include
human-monkey hybrids,
monkey-pig hybrids,
human-rabbit hybrids and a host of other lab-manufactured
monstrosities.
Chimeras are created when human embryonic stem cells are
injected into embryos from another species. The goal, for the time
being, is to induce the growth of targeted human organs. Those
facing terminal illnesses will no longer have to worry about long
organ waiting lists. A less controversial approach to human organ
replacement is
3D bioprinting or its
4D bioprinting iteration. These techniques involve the
“printing” of a replacement organ from the stem cells of a
transplant recipient, thereby eliminating the odds of organ
rejection.
But why stop at replacement organs when we can have replacement
humans altogether? Future generations must think like Einsteins, be
as nimble as leopards and possess owl-like night visions. And, of
course, be virus-resistant as well!
The manipulation of the human genome is the new “grand
response” to the venerable set of “grand
challenges”. Thanks to globalization, China is the go-to
place for such genetic tinkering as some of these undertakings are
technically illegal in the West. Since 2014, the Wuhan Institute of
Virology was the recipient of a two-stage grant worth $7.2 million
from the United States government for gain-of-function research
into bat coronaviruses. According to a
Newsweek report:
Many scientists have criticized gain of function research, which
involves manipulating viruses in the lab to explore their potential
for infecting humans, because it creates a risk of starting a
pandemic from accidental release.
Such caution has not deterred a flurry of research into
microbial gene manipulation. It may have instead spawned COVID-19.
Recombining genetic codes at the substrate levels is fraught with
risks, as any systems theory scholar can attest3. COVID-19 was
therefore not a Black Swan event but likely an “emergent”4 outcome
arising from complex genomic interactions and human folly.
To solely blame China for the coronavirus pandemic therefore may
be a tad unfair. Just as China is the factory of the world for
foreign corporations, it is also the genetic incubator for a
variety of viruses and chimeras for foreign governments and
foundations. Even so, the
human-pig chimera was the creation of the Salk Institute in
California. Research into the world’s first human-mouse
hybrid was largely a Japanese affair. The Portuguese in the
meantime had created a virus
chimera.
The British, on their end, had spawned a
human-cow hybrid embryo in 2008 – perhaps reflective of the
bovine disposition of those who consume its mainstream media.
Clinically-speaking, such analogies are not wholly unwarranted. It
was in Britain where the game-changing Dolly the Sheep was cloned
in 1996. The transition from sheep to sheeple may turn out to be a
short 21st century Jurassic Park ride.
Coincidences and Consequences
Before the advent of gene-editing tools and supercomputing, it
would have taken hundreds of years to create a viable chimera. The
Genetics-Industrial Complex and contact tracing-type Panopticons
constitute a new growth area for nearly-bankrupt Tech Titans5. Is
it any wonder that the mainstream media and their Big Tech owners
are
furiously censoring contrarian expert views on COVID-19?
The dangers of genome editing were in fact included in the
Worldwide Threat Assessment reports submitted to United States
Congress in
2016 and
2017. They were either omitted or glossed over in the
2018 and 2019
reports – just as such risks were on the rise.
Is it a coincidence that the nations most affected by COVID-19
are the very ones that had either promoted or encouraged a variety
of genetic experimentations that are contrary to nature? By the
time this crisis is over, independent researchers should
superimpose the maps of “genetic superpowers” with those of
nations with either the highest COVID-19 fatality rates or the
worst socioeconomic fallouts. There may likely be a good degree of
overlap as the figure below indicates.
A Pandora’s Box has been opened and more hideous chimeras may
emerge during this decade. It is quite an irony that a new
generation of artificially-manufactured and cerebrally-deficient
“thought leaders”, academics and activists are being groomed to
promote “global governance” – a concept due for a portentous
mission creep in tandem with the Second Great Depression. What will
be their future worth in a eugenic global society that is
centrally-controlled by a digital panopticon6?
“Designer babies” and “super humans” may also render
many humans redundant. Will the genetic have-nots be reclassified
as “live-nots” in the not-so-distant future?
References
1 Savulescu J. (2001) Procreative beneficence: why we should
select the best children. Bioethics. 2001;15(5-6):413‐426.
2 Hammond J. (2010) Genetic engineering to avoid genetic
neglect: from chance to responsibility. Bioethics.
2010;24(4):160‐169.
3 Kauffman, S. A. (1993). The Origins of Order:
Self-Organization and Selection in Evolution. New York: Oxford
University Press
4 O’Connor, Timothy; Wong, Hong Yu (2012). Edward N. Zalta
(ed.). “Emergent Properties”. The Stanford Encyclopedia of
Philosophy (Spring 2012 Edition).
5,6 Maavak, M. (2019). Bubble to Panopticon: Dark Undercurrents
of the Big Data Torrent. Kybernetes, Vol. 49 No. 3, pp. 1046-1060.
https://doi.org/10.1108/K-06-2019-0403
Dr Mathew Maavak is a regular commentator on risk-related
geostrategic issues.
Top image: Pixabay
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