Personhood: It's Science Fiction

"I am the best there is at what I do … but what I do best is not very nice." — Marvel Comic's catchphrase for Wolverine debuted September 1982.

Science Fiction deals with imaginary but more or less plausible (or at least non-supernatural) content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities. Exploring the consequences of scientific innovations is one purpose of science fiction. Science Fiction is largely based on alternative possible worlds or futures. It is similar to, but differs significantly from fantasy in as much as the imaginary elements of the story are largely possible within scientifically established or scientifically postulated laws of nature. As a child running in the streets of Detroit, Michigan, my favorite Science Fiction was Marvel Comics' X-Men. ¹ The X-Men are a futuristic superhero team created by writer Stan Lee and drawn by Jack Kirby that first appeared in September 1963 when I was seven (7) years old. The X-Men possessed the "X-Gene" (a gene normal humans lacked) that gave them their extraordinary mutant abilities. Over the years Wolverine became my favorite X-Man. Wolverine was literally part wolverine and part human. Wolverine possessed animal-keen senses, enhanced physical capabilities, three retracting bone claws on each hand and a healing factor that allows him to recover from virtually any wound, disease or poison at an accelerated rate. The healing factor also slowed down his aging process and enabled him to live beyond a normal human lifespan. Today, Wolverine has a near-indestructible metal alloy adamantium endoskeleton and claws. As a boy, Wolverine was my "super soldier."

Personhood: It's Not Science Fiction Anymore

"The term 'creation' is not just fanciful rhetoric: some of the research now underway involves actually altering the genetic code of soldiers, modifying bits of DNA to fashion a new type of human specimen, one that functions like a machine, killing tirelessly for days and nights on end. These mutations will 'revolutionize the contemporary order of battle' and guarantee 'operational dominance across the whole range of potential United States military employments,' the DARPA wizards enthuse." — Hunter Gatheress, Paranoia Publishing ·

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is an agency of the United States Department of Defense and is responsible for the development of new technology for use by the military. ² According to Wired magazine's Katie Drummond, "DARPA is looking to re-write the laws of evolution to the military's advantage, creating "synthetic organisms" that can live forever — or can be killed with the flick of a molecular switch." ³ According to DARPA's 2011 budget, ⁴ the Pentagon is investing $6 Million into a project called BioDesign, ⁵ with the objective of eliminating "the randomness of natural evolutionary advancement." ⁶ "The plan would assemble the latest bio-tech knowledge to come up with living, breathing creatures that are genetically engineered to "produce the intended biological effect." ⁷ "DARPA wants the organisms to be fortified with molecules that bolster cell resistance to death, so that the lab-monsters can 'ultimately be programmed to live indefinitely.'" ⁸ Of course DARPA is taking every precaution to create a "synthetic organism 'self-destruct' option (i.e., a 'molecular kill-switch') to be implemented upon nefarious removal of organism." ⁹ According to Thomson Reuters' Kate Kelland, in November of 2009 "Britain's Academy of Medical Sciences launched a study Tuesday to look at the use of animals containing human material in scientific research." ¹⁰ Martin Bobrow, a professor of medical genetics at Cambridge University says: "There is a whole raft of new scientific techniques that will make it not only easier but also more important to be able to do these cross-species experiments." ¹¹ In the same article, Kelland goes on to report "a row erupted in Britain over new laws allowing the creation of human-animal embryos for experimentation." ¹²

"In a nutshell, the argument is that even though creating PostHumans may be a very dangerous social experiment, it is even more dangerous not to attempt it." — Assistant Professor Mark Walker, New Mexico State University, TransHumanism, Destroying The Barriers. ·

The worldwide race for technological military superiority is on. As we can plainly see now … Wolverine … my childhood "super soldier," ^13,14 is not Science Fiction anymore.

Personhood: It's Science With Boundaries

"All of the boundaries are up for grabs. All of the boundaries that have defined us as human beings, boundaries between a human being and an animal and between a human being and a super human being or a god." — Professor Leon R. Kass, former Chairman, President's Council on Bioethics, TransHumanism, Destroying The Barriers. ·

Science without boundaries is madness. Just because we can do something does not mean we should. So to ensure we are always talking about "human beings" and not about cross-species experiments, human-animal embryos, living, breathing super soldiers, animals or those of us that can physically demonstrate "rational attributes" and "sentience" on demand, I inserted the word "only" in the 2012 version of the language for the California Human Rights Amendment. Personhood is not simply a Pro-Life tactic to establish legal rights for the child in the womb or a "no-holds-barred" uphill charge to the front door of the United States Supreme Court in an effort to overturn Roe v. Wade … No! … It's about man being made in the image of God. It's about God breathing into man His breath of life and man becoming a living soul. It's about recognizing the inestimable value, the inherent dignity and the incomprehensible quality of all human life. It's about equality, justice and freedom, regardless of the means by which a human being was procreated, method of reproduction, age, race, sex, gender, physical well-being, function, or condition of physical or mental dependency and/or disability. For once and for all time, it's about the God given right to Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness for every human being.

Brothers, we really need to talk.

Note(s):
· Hunter Gatheress, "The DARPA War Fighter Enhancement Programs" (http://bit.ly/zsHB5Y).
· TransHumanism, Destroying The Barriers, with Tom Horn, an approximately 60 minute DVD (http://bit.ly/oChCoS).

Reference(s):
01. Marvel Entertainment, LLC a wholly-owned subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company, is one of the world's most prominent character-based entertainment companies, built on a proven library of over 8,000 characters featured in a variety of media over seventy years (http://bit.ly/bycopQ).
02. "DARPA's mission is to maintain the technological superiority of the U.S. military and prevent technological surprise from harming our national security by sponsoring revolutionary, high-payoff research bridging the gap between fundamental discoveries and their military use (http://www.darpa.mil and https://issues4life.org/pdfs/darpabudgefy2011.pdf).
03. Katie Drummond, "Pentagon Looks to Breed Immortal 'Synthetic Organisms,' Molecular Kill-Switch Included", Wired Magazine, Category: DarpaWatch, February 5, 2010 (https://issues4life.org/pdfs/darpakillswitch.pdf) or (http://bit.ly/Nb8mlk).
04. "Department of Defense Fiscal Year (FY) 2011 President's Budget" (https://issues4life.org/pdfs/darpabudgefy2011.pdf).
05. Ibid., Page 264 (Search on "BioDesign")
06. Ibid., Page 265 (Search on "BioDesign")
07. op. cit., Katie Drummond
08. op. cit., Katie Drummond
09. op. cit., Department of Defense Fiscal Year (FY) 2011 President's Budget, Page 265 (Search on "BioDesign").
10. Kate Kelland "Scientists Want Debate On Animals With Human Genes", Reuters, November 9th, 2009 (https://reuters.com/article/us-science-animal-human-idUSTRE5A900R20091110) of (https://issues4life.org/pdfs/news_20091110a.pdf).
11. Ibid.
12. Ibid.
13. Moreno, Jonathan D. (2006). "Mind Wars: Brain Research and National Defense." Dana Press, ISBN 1932594167.
14. Goldblatt, Michael (2002). "DARPA's programs in enhancing human performance". In Roco, Mihail C.; Bainbridge, William Sims. Managing Nano-Bio-Info-Cogno Innovations: Converging Technologies in Society (1st Edition). Arlington, VA: Springer. pp. 339-340. ISBN 1402041063.: cited in McIntosh, Daniel (December 2008). "Human, TransHuman, PostHuman: Implications of Evolution-By-Design for Human Security". Journal of Human Security 4 (3): 4-20.