Nora: Some religious groups are opposed to genetic research. They believe it’s interfering with nature.
John: I know. But nature can be pretty hard-nosed too, so we often need to interfere with her—we build dams to control flooding.
Nora: There’re many diseases that are a part of nature, and they cause people a great deal ofmisery: cancer and diabetes, for example.
John: A better understanding of the genetic code that controls our body would be a great help in curing many diseases.
Nora: The project to map the human genetic code…what’s that called?
John: The genome project. As you say, it has tremendous promise to make our lives better—just in the ability to identify and correct genetically-caused diseases like Alzheimer’s.
Nora: Some diseases like cancer are also believed to have a genetic switch.
John: That’s right, and once researchers identify the switch, perhaps they can turn off cancer or Alzheimer’s.
Nora: People are also concerned that science will enable us to determine such qualities as intelligence and height.
John: You know it’s going to happen—it’s just a matter of when.
Nora: Imagine if everyone was a combination of Yao Ming and Albert Einstein.
John: But what if they get it wrong, and you wind up with Yao Ming’s knowledge of nuclear physics and Albert Einstein’s height?
Nora: All those religious groups would say that it served you right.
