CGS-authored
Melvin Konner's review of Michael Sandel's "The Case Against Perfection" [May 2007] reads like something written by Ayn Rand on steroids. Konner glibly downplays concerns about sports doping, cosmetic surgery, lifestyle neuropharmaceu-ticals, sperm-sorting to guarantee the sex of your child, and genetic manipulation to enhance your child's "health, brains and beauty." He appears oblivious to the profound real world consequences that the development and widespread marketing and use of such technologies would have for equality, equity, human rights, and solidarity.
Konner repeats two arguments commonly made by libertarians: Genetic enhancement of your kids is the same as sending them to private schools and you can't stop it anyway.
Well, no. High-tech genetic manipulation, repeated over even a few generations, could generate inequalities greater and of a different sort than any heretofore. Most European countries, Canada, Japan, and South Africa, have already adopted policies that draw the proper lines: They support medical research but proscribe the use of genetic technologies for non-medical purposes that could have pernicious societal outcomes. We can do likewise.
Michael Sandel has a distinguished record as a...