Examples Of Playing God

We've all heard the popular phrase “just because you can doesn't mean you should,” and most people understand what this concept means; don't play god (I;I). A simple concept that I agree with, but many scientists like Victor Frankenstein and Luigi Galvani disregard this warning for the sake of progress. From my viewpoint, I think the answer is simple; if it defies the laws of nature than maybe it shouldn't be done. (I;I) Let me begin by pointing out the most obvious example of playing god; Dolly the sheep aka genetic engineering. Dolly was the first successful mammal cloned, yes cloned, from an adult somatic cell using the process of nuclear transfer. (D,I, cc I) Nuclear transfer is when you replace the DNA in a oocyte and inject the nucleus with the DNA to be cloned. When the news of Dolly the cloned sheep got out to the public it struck immediate controversy whether scientists have the right to genetically engineer DNA like that. It didn't benefit dolly either, she lived half …show more content…
Mutation can be a naturally reoccurring thing a concept that Charles Darwin helped explain way back when. For example, people with blue eyes (about 8% of the population) have a genetic mutation which changes the amount of melanin in the iris causing it to turn blue and be more sensitive to light. On the other hand is a man made mutation, this is what most people think of when they hear the word mutation. It's something that has been changed or is not the same as everything else like the creature from Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. The creature is the result of an experiment similar to the one of Luigi Galvani which consisted of trying to reanimate the dead by using bioelectricity. “I became myself capable of bestowing animation upon the lifeless matter”, (Shelley pg. 69) Just like Galvani Frankenstein figured out the secret to