On Tue, 8 Jul 1997, Anastasia McPherson wrote:
[snip]
> Anastasia
>
> I think tht the first thing that will free us is having real control over
> our bodies and our reproduction (and I dont mean just access to abortion
> on demand, I mean that economics and social convention should not drive
> women's reproductive choices and it seems to me that this is sadly still
> the case.
>
> And I wont even start with the etical issues surrounding all of the new
> reproductive technology - but one question - how would you feel if you
> were born of combination anonymous sperm and egg donation and carried by
> a surrogate and would never in your life have any idea where your human
> roots were?
Excuse me if I give my personal answer to this question.
1) My human roots are the based on who raised me (including the larger
society) and have very little to do with my biology. I think that who
"we" are is more based on Memes than Genes.
2) It would all be a matter of society and culture. If I was the only
such surrogate or if society was obsessed with biological parentage, there
would probably be significant problems. However, given a society based on
this system, I can't forsee any more or larger personal problems with the
situation than with my current life knowing my biological parents.
> Life and birth and death are still mysteries try as we might to control
> or deny it.
3) It seems that you are implying by this that we would lose a mystical
connection to our parents. Perhaps, for some reason, people get a lot out
of some sort of feeling of meta-physical (strangely very physical)
connection to the people who gave them their genes. Also, perhaps people
get alot out of knowing that their genes are continuing on in their
children and have this feeling confirmed by the notion that their parents
had the same thing with them. I wonder
a) how much this is really the case. I for one do not feel that I get
much of this mystical connection. What I get is the mystical connection
of mind that came from my parents raising me.
b) how much of this is societal and replaceable. Perhaps in another
society we will find the "raised by" connection to be more mystical than
the biological connection. (which I think I do)
I hesitate to minimize the importance of biological parentage, but I hope
that those people who find solace in it pause to consider other options
and ways that people might get the same thing. Since I don't
think that I personally get much of anything from my biological
connections other than those derived from my non-biological interactions
with them, I have no personal problem with the notion.
-- Joel VanLaven
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