Ask A Priest VI- The Future

People have always been intrigued of what the future will look like. Some say it is a simple matter to know such things. Others say it is impossible. What I have done is taken Various Scientific reasearch and Phenominum as well as scientific speculatations on the Future and asked Father John Flynn what he thought about these issues. This is not a very thurough interview. It is more of a moral take on modern science and predictions, but I hope you get something out of this. And Enjoy!

Q.  Is morally wrong to mix the DNA of one species with another to make a mutated species or an altogether new species? There was a project, that may still be going on, where scientists were trying to do that. There goal was to "advance in the science to a point where they could potentially advance humans to have animal qualities" such as speed, strength, excellent hearing, smell etc.?

A.  I think we need to distinguish between animal hybrids and mixing animal and human DNA. There is no intrinsec moral problem with cross-breeding animals and it was done for centuries, well before genetic technology began. That said, however, I think that there needs to be caution and to have safeguards put in place to ensure that there are no health risks or other advese consequences.

With mixing animal and human DNA I think there are serious ethical and moral issues involved. I recommend this article to you as it goes into some of the problems.

Q.  What about reading minds? Would it be ok to use technology to read peoples mind or are thoughts supposed to be private?

A.  I think some things belong more to the realm of science fiction than any immediate reality. In any case the Church does recommend we respect the privacy of others. You can see in the Catechism how this is stated in no. 1907 and again in no. 2492. In this second number it says in part:

"Everyone should observe an appropriate reserve concerning persons' private lives."

Q.  Is computer enhancing the human body something that should be done? There is one professor who is saying that sometime in the next century we will be capable of downloading a humans entire personality to a computer and that there will no longer be need for the human body. Is this even possible from a religious view point? Can a soul be downloaded to a computer? And is the mind and body something that can be separated. Cause I kind of thought the body was something sacred, like the temple of the holy ghost.

A. I think this is pretty far-fetched, the totality of a human is more than just some pieces of data to be downloaded and I don't think this opinion represents anything like the view of most scientists in this area.

In any case a soul is not material and so could not be transferred to a computer or to any other person or object.

This area of mind, body and soul is quite complex. A good introduction to this is is in one of John Paul II's audiences, which I think you will find interesting.

Q. Scientists have successfully teleported a beam of light by a sort of fax system that turns the beam of light into info and then faxes it to another sort of high tech fax machine. The scientists involved say that it is currently impossible to fax a human being from one spot to another because they have not made a computer yet that can hold that much information but they are hoping that someday it will be possible for teleportation to become the only method of transportation. Is there anything that would question the moral ethicity of this? like for example, what you said before the human soul is not physical does this apply to teleportation?

A. This is really quite different from your previous case. If such a transportation were possible what you are doing is moving the person and so long as the body is integral the soul remains with it.

Q. Scientists are saying that at the rate the computer is progressing it will someday become superior to man. We now look at the computer as a machine but according to some scientists we will become the machine and the computer will become the master. Do you think this will ever happen?

A. Human nature has a God-given dignity that is superior to any other creature, or material object. Even now computers can calculate much faster than a person, but that does not mean they have an inherent dignity or condition superior to ours.

Q. KEVIN KELLY helped launch Wired magazine in 1993, and served as its Executive Editor until January 1999. He says that
"Science is the way we surprise God... That's what we're here for." 
And other scientists are saying that it is our moral obligation is to generate possibilities, to discover the infinite ways, however complex and high-dimension, to play the infinite game.  It will take all possible species of intelligence in order for the universe to understand itself. Science, in this way, is holy.  It is a divine trip.
What do you think of that?

A. I think people need to learn a bit of logic before they go off making such statements. If something is infinite by definition it cannot be fully grasped or encompassed. Just because you are a scientist does not mean you are outside the laws of logic and reason.