The quest for dystopia

I would be willing to bet that biomedical researchers who specialize in human degradation get their ideas from watching old science fiction movies. Two articles were recently sent to me as evidence this is true. 

The first to arrive was about the plausibility that we now have the capacity to create human bodies without brains or consciousness that could be used as resources for spare parts. The article calls these “bodyoids,” and proposes that they might be a solution to the transplantable organ shortage. The second article arrived in my inbox later the same day and was on the commerce of “optimizing” human embryos  by screening them after in vitro fertilization (IVF) for hundreds of potential genetic flaws. 

Two movies immediately came to mind. One was released in 2005 and called The Island; the plot developed in a manufactured and tightly controlled environment where people were told that the natural environment had been so degraded that it was dangerous and uninhabitable. Periodically, though, a lottery was held to select one person who would be taken away to the last safe, natural place on earth — a beautiful, pristine island. What we come to understand, however, is that the residents of this place are clones. Winning the lottery meant that the donor needed their clone to be harvested for whatever body part had failed in the host. The clones were insurance in the case of organ failure, or some similar medical emergency.

Now we may have the possibility of manufactured human organisms to provide this very thing. Just like a real person, but without a brain.

The other movie I was reminded of was a 1997 film, Gattaca. In this future place, genetic engineering has created a flawless race with the best possible traits. There was one man, though, who was not the result of a human manufacturing process — or what we call in vitro fertilization — but had been conceived the old-fashioned way. This plot is all about him faking his way to success. 

When these movies were released, they both were (and still are) referred to as “dystopian science fiction.” These two articles reflect, in a sense, the realization of this dystopian vision.

A “dystopia” is a fictional or hypothetical society that is characterized by suffering, injustice, oppression, and often totalitarian control. It envisions a society where there is a loss of personal freedom, environmental decay, technological control and social inequality. Dystopia is never a goal, but a consequence of a failed totalitarian idea? I don’t usually refer to Wikipedia, but its definition is as good as any. 

Have we achieved new heights of hubris where we think we can outdo nature in the creation of life? The bigger question to ask is if this is the world we now desire, because whether we want it or not, it’s here. 

I’ve written before about the pronatalists and their quest for the perfect child. Just like in the movie Gattaca, they take advantage of old and new technologies like IVF and advanced genetic screening to select either for, or against, certain traits — in each IVF round genetically analyzing embryos and selecting ones with perfect traits, and of course selecting against ones that violate cultural taboos like Down syndrome or cystic fibrosis, or even against the possibility of birthing a child that might someday have breast cancer or cardiovascular disease, or average intelligence — or maybe brown eyes when you really want blue — or selecting against a girl when you really want a boy. “Selecting,” of course, means discarding (killing) embryos.

These pronatalists see our population crisis and are committed to reproducing in large numbers, but not in the old-fashioned way — the way God intended it to be, where a husband and wife come together in passionate embrace and their love brings the joy of new life into their family in nine months. No — far too risky. They prefer dystopia. These people believe, to quote from the New York Times article, that “Sex is for fun, and embryo screening is for babies.”

Of course, having babies without sex is also big business. Between 2019 and mid-2023, fertility tech startups raised over $1.5 billion in equity funding. There’s a lot of money to be had in engendering human persons in vitro (in glass) and throwing away the ones you don’t want, implanting some, and freezing the rest. I fear there will be Hell to pay for these people’s desire to play God.

So, what about “bodyoids?” how will the Catholic Church respond to creating human bodies sans brains, for spare parts?

The thought of it raises far more questions than we currently have answers to. Afterall, if you manufacture a reproduction of a human without a brain or consciousness, what is it? If it lacks even the potential for consciousness, is it human? Where does the “raw material” for creating the creature come from? Are the cells used to create them harvested from aborted children? We’re in a culture that has lost its conscience, and it will be up to bioethicists to grapple with those questions. Given the Church’s high regard for the human body, my guess is the judgement will be in the negative. We can’t play God.

So, welcome to Dystopia. Pray and fast for wisdom and in reparation for all the increasing offenses against God’s gift of life.