Most people would agree that the human race should be improved, and many are engaged in devoted effort to bring about this result through scientific, theological, social, and political means. Many see promise in the rapidly developing techniques of the geneticists, by means of which, it is believed, radical changes may be produced in various forms of animal as well as vegetable life.
It seems likely that, as research proceeds, through genetic engineering, it will be found possible to produce, through artificial fertilization in test tubes, human embryos that contain mental and physical characteristics carefully selected for perpetuation in order to improve the race. Moreover, through artificial culture of microscopic cellular elements of the material body, it may someday be possible to direct the evolution of mankind.
The implications of such possibilities are vast and complex. The hope of today's geneticists may be that the techniques they develop will be used only constructively—to improve the species by producing individual men and women who would embody the more desirable and useful human qualities. Serious questions must inevitably arise as to what the consequences could be if the method were to be used for evil purposes.
