Perhaps the thing which most outraged those we colonised was not that we took political power, nor even that we took all the money – we didn’t, but that’s what people think we did – it’s that we told them all how to behave. That we were the civilisation with all the guns didn’t quite mean that our manner of running life was the only manner, or the best, in which life could be run.
At which point, why isn’t this colonialism?
[perfectpullquote align=”full” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]A Chinese university has launched an investigation into claims that one of its scientists genetically edited human babies, an experiment branded ‘monstrous’ by British academics who called for an immediate global ban. In a YouTube video posted on Monday He Jiankui of the Southern University of Science and Technology, in Shenzhen, said he had altered embryos for seven couples during fertility treatment, which had led to the birth of twins earlier this month. He said his goal was to give the babies a natural ability to resist HIV.[/perfectpullquote]It’s foreigners doing what we morally disapprove of. And the insistence is that they must be stopped, these foreigners, from doing what we disapprove of. This is colonialism again, isn’t it? If it isn’t, why isn’t it?
It’s not colonialism because the outraged Western academics have no power in China. I was expecting an article on genuine colonialism, to be ushered in should parliamentarians not have the backbone to throw out Mrs May’s treaty of surrender to the European Union.
Precisely. I wonder if the UN would be prepared to investigate instances of EU colonialism as thoroughly as, say, BS allegations of human rights abuses in the UK? I guess not…
Human beings are evolving faster now than probably any species ever in history. Uniquely we have the technical ability to make conscious steers to that journey. A race of superhumans will emerge. And very likely cyborg superhumans. Homo Sapiens will be as redundant and backward to Homo Autogenesis as Neanderthals look to us now. We’ll have physical and mental powers that are almost indistinguishable from magic. And the country that decides it wants to lead will do just that.
Darwinian (Wallacian?) Evolution is a funny thing. It involves responding to an environment. which is changing.The ability to intentionally respond to the physical environment does not ‘stop’ evolution – it simply produces another plane on which evolution can operate.
For animals, we tend to think in terms of body property alterations. But evolutionary forces apply to ANY situation. In a society where body (and mind) manipulation is commonplace there will still be evolutionary pressures making the members of that society adapt to the new environment. And who can tell which leaders they will throw up?
…This is colonialism again, isn’t it? If it isn’t, why isn’t it?… The author of this piece has problems thinking. This is not colonialism, it is moral disapproval. Worse, the author seems to have picked up the moral relativism disease which is so prevalent in our society. He seems to think that it is not reasonable for a society to voice moral opinions which differ from other societies beliefs. This is moral cowardice. Stand up for yourself. man! Decide if you think this practice is acceptable or not, and make your case accordingly! You are the heir of Matthew Arnold,… Read more »