OPINION:
A Washington Times article last week focused on a recent military summit meeting where the talk was all about what’s around the corner, soldier-wise (“Building a ‘superhuman’: Focus on mind, body, soul drives evolution of America’s warfighters,” Web, May 17). U.S. armed forces are It reads, in part: “Military leaders are embracing biomechanics, mental health, psychological toughness and spiritual reawakening to nurture the mind, body and soul in concert to create warriors fully equipped for 21st-century conflicts on the battlefield and inside the mind. … [This] “superhuman” concept hinges on culturing the microbiomes of elite athletes or other prime specimens and quite literally incorporating them into other humans’ makeup.”
The result could be far stronger, faster, more capable men and women.
It is estimated that some 70% of America’s youth are unfit for military service due to poor physical condition, obesity, drug addiction, mental health problems and the like. But many of these individuals have been taught in our public schools to be anti-American, and that the U.S. is not worth fighting for. What will these Pentagon geniuses do about that?
Is a “spiritual reawakening” really compatible with training people to destroy human life more efficiently? Isn’t genetic manipulation at the germ-line level currently unlawful, because that’s what would be required to incorporate the genes of “prime specimens” into embryos in order to grow an army of these “superhumans”?
That is the sort of “gain of function” genetic manipulation that gave us COVID-19, if I’m not mistaken. We’re now worried about artificial intelligence and self-aware robots, but what about these military schemers? I think they are worse.
DONALD BRETCHES
Waynesboro, Virginia
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