Dear AIIMSonian, Batch of 2067,
I hope this magazine of ours finds you in an inspiring world that I, roll number 3107, can only call‘ The Future’. I can only imagine how you caught hold of this edition of the Hybrid Hues, but am sure you’ d find this letter interesting as it has been written in a time when the earth was the only planet we inhabited, when 360 and 3D videos were not mainstream entertainment and when, as is the topic of this discussion, DNA manipulation, and gene editing were making their long-awaited transitio from science fiction to science textbooks.
Surprising, right? But such was the reality of 2017.
CRISPR / Cas9, the revolutionary gene editing tool, although in its infancy, was staggering scientists with its unprecedented ease and versatility. It demanded awe and admiration for its accuracy and precision in being able to act as a word processor for our genetic material. We were looking towards this technology to solve the puzzle of inborn genetic defects by embryonal gene therapy. After all, how could we let someone die when we had the means to save them? Furthermore, we wanted to empower our species with abilities akin only to super-powers and, thus, redefine the boundaries of human endeavour.
But, there were people with equally strong opinions concerned about the potential of this technology to spiral out of control. They were concerned about how we were ready to reduce humanity to Lego blocks made of nucleic acids and had the audacity and the desire to kick Darwin out of the equation and take evolution into our own hands. Were we ready to play God?
Although this discussion might sound trivial to you, this was one of the major ethical conundrums of our generation, spanning its web across social, scientific and political spectrums. For all I know, your parents could have handpicked your genes to create the ideal child. Maybe you were presented the gift of life by CRISPR only! If yes, do you feel any less‘ human’?
Freeman Dyson, a noted physicist, once famously said,“ In the future, a new generation of artists will be writing genomes as fluently as Blake and Byron wrote verses.” I am optimistic that that‘ new generation of artists’ must have made their mark well before this message travels through the fabric of time to reach you.
Thanks, my yet-unborn-friend, for reading this letter! I consider myself to be your senior and thus feel almost obliged to say the subsequent words:“ Facche intro?”
50
Hoping to get a reply in 50 years. Lovedeep Singh Dhingra, 3107, Batch of‘ 14