Research Question: Will CRISPR lead to a world

populated by super humans?

In 1939, the first ever comic strip by Marvel hit the markets. In it was a carefully crafted world of
superheroes, ones that gained power from kryptonite, radioactive spiders, power rings from guardians of
the galaxies or even from mystical hammers that yielded power from godly beings. The concepts were
completely ridiculous but acceptable due to their fictional nature. In 1941, Captain America was
published and a whole new concept surfaced. During the second world war, a young frail looking man
signs up to join the army to fight for his country but faces rejection due to his physical deficiencies.
Determined to stay, he volunteers for a military experiment in which he receives a “super soldier serum”
and enhances to the peak of human perfection. In other words, he becomes taller, faster, stronger and
basically invincible making him the greatest asset to the US army. Back then, this phenomena was just a
figment of someone’s imagination but fast forward to 1981 and the first transgenic animal came into
existence. This was the first ever recorded experiment of genetic modification after which the boundaries
between fiction and reality began to merge. The possibility of living in a world dominated by genetically
engineered super soldiers is becoming an inevitability.

What is in this “super soldier serum” that made Captain America a superhuman? Modern day cutting edge
genome editing technologies can explain the magical contents of this serum, for instance, the CRISPR/
Cas system for one, can be the root of Captain America’s powers. But what is genome editing?
Apparently, scientists have dabbled in genetics for the past 70 years in hopes of developing techniques/
tools that can selectively activate/deactivate individual genes through specific chemical reactions. In
layman terms, it is almost like designing an avatar and choosing what physical attributes to give it.
Speed? Turn on gene x. Stamina? Turn on gene y. It is as simple as that. Nevertheless, it is only natural to
wonder where these tools are now? They are currently being used in medical applications like treating
diseases or developing vaccines and drugs, research and agriculture. Some applications in agriculture
include producing immune competent crops that can resist pesticides, plants that can absorb polluted
water and filter it to fight water pollution and a “banana vaccine” which is a genetically modified banana
that can fight diseases like cholera and hepatitis by producing antibodies upon consumption. Whereas, in
animals some experiments successfully conducted involve the infamous sheep Dolly who was genetically
cloned, the glow in the dark cat who had genetically induced green fluorescent protein in its DNA to
make it glow and lastly, pigs that produce less harmful excretion; the digestive system of pigs was
improved to metabolise phosphorous better so that the excreted amount was less which is in turn safer for
the environment. In terms of human applications, the most significant instance is that of battling the
global pandemic of 2019 by developing vaccines using genetic engineering. Each of the above mentioned
example is a product of the CRISPR/Cas technology.

But what exactly is the underlying phenomena of this technology and how does it help advance genetic
engineering? Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeat, in short CRISPR, is a tool that has
been acquired from bacteria. Like humans, bacteria are susceptible to diseases and are in a constant battle
with invading viruses but unlike humans, bacteria has developed a stronger immune protection. A virus
has a specified genome in which multiple repeated sequences are present separated with spacer
sequences-the repeated segments are specific to each virus. Once the virus enters a bacterial cell, the
CRISPR/Cas system copies the repeated segments from the viral genome and stores it. Upon reinfection,
CRISPR/Cas recognises the genome and degrades it. Basically, CRISPR/Cas keeps a record of all its
enemies and kills them on site. Many other functions of CRISPR were discovered with time that make it a
very powerful technology as it can not only edit the genome but it can entirely rewrite it as well! Being
able to re-write human genome is the modern day equivalent of captain America’s serum that will make
humans indestructible godly beings. So where are the superhumans? Probably in some secret military
facility like captain America, because this entire concept is an ethical breach of the humanity.Why? Well,
the ethical concerns revolving around CRISPR are a bit complex.

Let’s breakdown the pros and cons to better understand these implications. CRISPR has benefited all
aspects of society: in agriculture, there are now more nutritional food and drinks for human consumption
than ever before and there is a possibility of producing drought-resistant crops in the future which will
help combat starvation periods. Genetically modified crops (GM crops) have also significantly reduced
soil carbon storage (due to less cultivation) and emission of greenhouse gases due to traditional
agricultural practices. Statistically, this is equivalent to removing 19.4 billion kilograms of carbon dioxide
from the atmosphere, or removing 8.6 million cars from the road in a year. Moreover, farmers that grew
biotechnological crops have seen a large amount of economic benefit; from 1996-2010 a revenue of
$78.4 billion was generated. In medicine, CRISPR has aided in fighting and curing multiple diseases and
overall improving the quality of life. Scientists have successfully fixed hearing disorders in mice which
implies that soon humans can also get hearing disorders treated. Similarly, they have also cured sickle cell
anaemia which is a genetic disorder in which red blood cells are deformed in shape (sickle shaped) and
cannot absorb and transport oxygen to the body as normal red blood cells would. CRISPR helped edit
genes in the bone marrow of mice i.e the blood bank of a body and basically cured the disorder from the
root. Scientists predict that they can also treat cystic fibrosis and cataracts. Furthermore, powerful drugs
are also being developed which act like ‘gene drives’ and can control the spread of diseases by preventing
the passing of a disease from a parent to an offspring. Lastly, designer babies can also be formulated
which indicates that CRISPR will be used to edit out harmful genes in embryos such as those linked to
diseases while boosting positives ones.

What is the darker side of CRISPR? The afore mentioned concept of a gene drive despite being beneficial
has a major downside. Remember that CRISPR stores genome information every time an infection
happens? Just like that, when genetic manipulation is done and new genes are added to the sequence,
CRISPR also stores these newly incorporated genes in a drive. What is concerning is that these genes can
be transferred to other organisms and this becomes an unbreakable cycle. This means that human genetic
manipulations will be passed down countless generations with no expiration date. Alongside this, another
major concern is the presence of target offsets. Theoretically, it can be understood that CRISPR/Cas
system is highly gene specific but apparently, in practice that is not the case. While certain genes are
being targeted and edited, mutations can occur elsewhere in the genome and this is known as off-target
modification. These are completely random mutations and can have catastrophic effects. There are ways
to counteract them by adapted protocols but a scientists can never be a 100% confident that no off-target
effects will surface. So essentially, merging these two concepts together, there can be offset mutations in
the gene drive that are being inherited by offsprings. What will happen if these mutations lead to
antibiotic resistance or even creation of incurable diseases that humans will no longer have the potential
to treat? In Greg Licholai’s words, who is the chief medical officer of Yale,” it seems gene editing is
going to eliminate all diseases or kill every last one of us.” Aside from this, scholars have also debated the
moral implications of altogether “cutting out” people with disabilities from human society. The very core
concept of this technology is that people with disorders, disabilities or deficiencies are the ugly duckling
and will be eliminated from existence in some utopian future of this world. But is a world inhabited by
elite humans liveable? Isn’t the entire foundation of this world based on biological human diversity? Let’s
indulge in this idea of a utopian future for a second. A world with only super humans is many decades
away. The journey will look something like this: In the next few years, only famous or rich people will
afford to enhance themselves and a societal inequality will rise. A new form of cast system will develop.
People with “bad genes” will be looked down upon and people with “good genes” will be considered the
creme-de-la-creme. Treating diseases and improving quality of life will take a back seat and CRISPR will
become a fancy tool like every other cosmetic technology that exists today. Notice how every other
person today has some kind of filler or implant in their body? Similarly, in the next 15 years, every other
person will be a CRISPR hybrid. Slowly and eventually, only the hybrids will prevail while diseased
humans will cease to exist. But this is just speculation.

Now the million dollar question is: does CRISPR’s benefits outweigh its risks? The likelihood that the
darker side of CRISPR will create something viscous and terrifying like the monsters from splice is bleak.
But the possibility of creating designer babies that are competent against diseases? It is already
happening; in 2018, twins were designed in China that are resistant to HIV! For a minute let’s put aside
the medical benefits of CRISPR and talk about the “cooler” abilities derived from it that we consistently
associate to superheroes-are they a myth or a reality? This is something scientists don’t openly talk about,
but whistleblowers exist that come out on podcasts to speak about ‘stuff they don’t want you to know.”
One such whistleblower claimed that things like echolocation, adermatoglyphia (a condition where
humans are born without fingerprints), super strength and body temperature regulation abilities have
already become a reality. Are these abilities worth the risk? The future of genetic engineering is vast, but
to help figure out the underlying ethical debate genetic engineering needs to start relying on other fields
of study as well. Perhaps if ethical boundaries can be defined, CRISPR can be used to make a version of a
utopia that benefits everyone while keeping the downsides limited. How can these boundaries be defined?
Interdisciplinary study is the key. Philosophers, economists, lawyers and even historians should all
contribute to the process of genetic engineering advancement. Economists can oversee the financial
prospects, philosophers can deal with the potential moral and ethical problems that may occur, historians
can educate researchers on the history of genetic engineering highlighting the ups and downs and finally,
lawyers can help create and pass laws to safeguard the environment, people’s rights, and most
importantly, the lives of future generations. Moreover, even politicians can work closely in this field to
effectively communicate information to the general public and inform them about the ongoing research
and experimentation. To summarise, it is vital to tackle this debate collectively because genetic
engineering has a vast beneficial future that should not be put on hold but developed head on. In fact in
the next decade, CRISPR will most probably be normalised. Conclusively, it cannot be stated for a fact
whether the future will hold a race of super humans but CRISPR can most definitely lead to a world
populated by an advanced version of humans. The ultimate question is, are we ready for this world?

References
1. https://www.livescience.com/58790-crispr-explained.html
2. https://www.genome.gov/genetics-glossary/Genetic-Engineering

3. https://examples.yourdictionary.com/examples-of-genetic-
engineering.html

4. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20850572/
#:~:text=Five%20sets%20of%20ethical%20concerns,'unnaturalness'%
20of%20the%20technology.
5. https://www.embopress.org/doi/full/10.15252/embr.
201541337#:~:text=With%20the%20rapid%20application%20of,and%
20policies%20for%20compassionate%20use.
6. https://archive.bio.org/articles/global-economic-and-environmental-
benefits-ge-crops-continues-rise
7. https://environmental-conscience.com/genetic-engineering-pros-and-
cons/
8. https://newengineer.com/blog/the-future-of-genetic-engineering-1383253
9. https://nat5biopl.edubuzz.org/unit-1-cell-biology/6-genetic-engineering

10.https://science.howstuffworks.com/life/genetic/creating-superhumans-
through-gene-manipulation-and-more.htm

11.https://insights.som.yale.edu/insights/is-crispr-worth-the-risk
12.https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-030-42022-2