How are people currently “reengineering” what it means to be human?
Ben Mitchell: First, there is social reengineering of our humanity. For instance, philosophers have made a distinction between human beings and human “persons.” Under this rubric, not all human beings are persons. So, today, Princeton philosopher Peter Singer and his colleagues ascribe personhood to primates and other animals. For them, “person” includes any being with conscious awareness (reason, will, and experience, for instance). That means apes are persons, but unborn humans are not. Of course, Christians have a biblical warrant to believe that there are persons who are other than human. There are Trinitarian persons-Father, Son, and Holy Spirit-and there are other nonhuman persons-angels and demons. For us, however, every human being is a person. Second, we are on the threshold of biotechnological reengineering. We are already seeing reengineered athletes through steroids and surgery. We will soon be able to modify them genetically to enhance their performance. Interestingly enou
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