The Soulful Catholic nearly spilled her diet caffeinated beverage when she read the sentence: “Parents here are paying up to $50,000 for new genetic-testing services that include promises to screen embryos for IQ.”
The “here” referred to is Silicone Valley, home to thousands of scientists, tech types and innovators, many of whom are atheist or agnostic. And upon their shoulders (or so they opine) is the urgent mission to save the world from Artificial Intelligence being hijacked by evil forces that threaten our very existence.
More than a few of them, it seems, plan to accomplish this noble goal through eugenics. No worries there, right? I mean, when has the use of eugenics ever ended badly? Doesn’t everyone want a master race?
In case you’re wondering, I’m not making this up. The Wall Street Journal’s recent story, “Inside Silicone Valley’s Obsession with Having Smarter Babies” noted that top execs are spending a fortune hunting for high-IQ dates and/or selecting high-IQ embryos. There’s even talk about “breeding” as though the beings being produced are of the equine or canine variety.
Underlying this quest for brilliant offspring is the notion that smarter humans are innately better and more worthy of life. Those who don’t quite measure up are to be discarded — literally thrown in the trash as medical waste in many cases. About half of embryos created in labs are discarded annually.
In an address to participants in the Second Annual Rome Conference on Artificial Intelligence back in June of this year, Pope Leo pointed out the urgent need for serious reflection and ongoing discussion on the ethical aspects of AI.
“Together with its extraordinary potential to benefit the human family, the rapid development of AI also raises deeper questions concerning the proper use of such technology in generating a more authentically just and human global society,” the pope said.
And of course, being the spiritual father to the 1.2 billion Catholics worldwide and for that matter, all of humanity, Pope Leo highlighted the bedrock principle of our moral theology: human dignity.
Any discussion of the ethical implications of AI, the pontiff said, must include “safeguarding the inviolable dignity of each human person and respecting the cultural and spiritual riches and diversity of the world’s peoples. Ultimately, the benefits or risks of AI must be evaluated precisely according to this superior ethical criterion.”
Take that, Silicone Valley. Your quest to create genius offspring, necessitating the destruction of thousands of embryos, is built on the shifting sands of idolatry. Separating the conception of new life from the marital act was always going to be a recipe for moral decay. The rotten fruit of poor reasoning has come back to haunt us.
It is idolatry that elevates human intelligence to the level of a good that must be pursued even at a price paid in innocent blood. When persons are valued only for what they can contribute or produce, we begin to have more in common with the failed policies of despicable regimes of bygone eras.
In the end, superior IQs will not save us. AI will not save us. A life divorced from God’s loving embrace will never prosper.
If we are to survive as a human species, it will not be through eugenics. It will be the fruit of a wisdom from on high.
That’s not something you can manufacture in a lab.
