Exploring the Hypothetical Impact of Genetic Engineering on Ethnicity: An Analysis of a Large-Scale Data Set Retrieved From a Museal Setting.

IF 1.7 2区 哲学 Q2 ETHICS
Bioethics Pub Date : 2025-06-25 DOI:10.1111/bioe.70005
Niklas A Döbler, Alexander Pastukhov, Claus-Christian Carbon
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Abstract

Critics of human genetic engineering warn that if ever put into practice, this will diminish human diversity, especially regarding skin color. Nonetheless, given the solid and shameful causal link between skin color and discrimination, the provocative question is whether to manipulate this feature and create children whose stereotype-aligning features reduce the risk of evoking hostility in the social environment. To address this possibility, we analyzed data from an interactive exhibit in a German museum that partly addresses these questions. Visitors could manipulate randomized features of a virtual child-for example, appearance and intelligence-to align them with their notion of a "perfect child." Analysis of N = 13,641 virtual children showed an apparent effect on aligning skin color with a Caucasian type. This was true for extreme light and dark, randomly assigned initial skin colors, but stronger for the latter. This preference could reflect the attempt to align the hypothetical child's skin color with the creating visitors. We also analyzed the chosen skin-color-dependent distribution of designed intelligence based on previous findings showing that high intelligence is less desirable for Black than White persons. We revealed that virtual children with a chosen darker skin color were designed with relatively lower intelligence and a larger proportion of maximized and minimized values. Although most effects were small, they might indicate racial prejudices and/or the attempt to design virtual children with high alignment with normative stereotypes. Our findings provide an important starting point to empirically inform the critical and timely debate about human genetic engineering.

探索基因工程对种族的假设影响:对从博物馆环境中检索到的大规模数据集的分析。
人类基因工程的批评者警告说,如果付诸实践,这将减少人类的多样性,特别是在肤色方面。尽管如此,考虑到肤色和歧视之间存在坚实而可耻的因果关系,一个具有挑衅性的问题是,是否应该操纵这一特征,并创造出具有与刻板印象一致的特征的儿童,以减少在社会环境中引发敌意的风险。为了解决这种可能性,我们分析了来自德国博物馆互动展览的数据,该展览在一定程度上解决了这些问题。访问者可以随意操纵虚拟儿童的特征,例如,外表和智力,使其与他们对“完美孩子”的看法保持一致。对N = 13,641名虚拟儿童的分析显示,在将肤色与高加索类型对齐方面有明显的效果。对于极端的浅色和深色,随机分配的初始肤色,这是正确的,但后者更强。这种偏好可能反映了假设孩子的肤色与创造游客相一致的尝试。我们还根据先前的研究结果分析了所选择的与肤色相关的设计智力分布,这些发现表明,黑人比白人更不需要高智商。我们发现,选择较深肤色的虚拟儿童的智商相对较低,最大和最小值的比例更大。虽然大多数影响很小,但它们可能表明种族偏见和/或试图设计与规范刻板印象高度一致的虚拟儿童。我们的发现提供了一个重要的起点,以经验为关键的和及时的关于人类基因工程的辩论提供信息。
本文章由计算机程序翻译,如有差异,请以英文原文为准。
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来源期刊
Bioethics
Bioethics 医学-医学:伦理
CiteScore
4.20
自引率
9.10%
发文量
127
审稿时长
6-12 weeks
期刊介绍: As medical technology continues to develop, the subject of bioethics has an ever increasing practical relevance for all those working in philosophy, medicine, law, sociology, public policy, education and related fields. Bioethics provides a forum for well-argued articles on the ethical questions raised by current issues such as: international collaborative clinical research in developing countries; public health; infectious disease; AIDS; managed care; genomics and stem cell research. These questions are considered in relation to concrete ethical, legal and policy problems, or in terms of the fundamental concepts, principles and theories used in discussions of such problems. Bioethics also features regular Background Briefings on important current debates in the field. These feature articles provide excellent material for bioethics scholars, teachers and students alike.
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