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“Humans had never before had a tool like CRISPR, and it had the potential to turn not only living people’s genomes but also all future genomes into a collective palimpsest upon which any bit of genetic code could be erased and overwritten depending on the whims of the generation doing the editing.”1
—Dr. Jennifer Doudna (2020 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry)
In his prescient work, The Abolition of Man, C. S. Lewis predicted that as science advances and mankind exerts greater control over the natural world, such gains will never be a simple increase in power for everyone. “Man’s conquest of Nature, if the dreams of some scientific planners are realized, means the rule of a few hundreds of men over billions upon billions of men,” he wrote.2 Lewis warned that this danger is further increased by the fact that as modern society moves farther away from recognizing a transcendent moral standard to which it must conform, it moves dangerously closer to destroying itself. “Human nature will be the last part of Nature to surrender to Man,” he wrote. “We shall have ‘taken the thread of life out of the hand of Clotho’ and be henceforth free to make our species whatever we wish it to be.”3 But exactly who will be the victor in this battle, and within what guidelines, if any, will the retailoring of humanity be performed?
What Lewis could have only imagined in his day — the ability to refashion human nature — is now a reality with the recent discovery and repurposing of a natural gene editing system that operates in some species of bacteria (denoted by the acronym CRISPR — “clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats”). The tool gives scientists the power to change living organisms at the most fundamental level — the level of the DNA code itself. Predictably, the fields in which this new technology is being developed and applied are multiplying at breakneck speeds, and many scientists are calling for a moratorium until a thorough discussion of the ethical implications can be held between researchers and the public.
However, productive public discussions over complex bioethical matters are historically difficult to achieve. Without some working knowledge of molecular genetics, gene editing is hard to grasp, not to mention the difficulty of identifying the deeper, ethical implications of the technology. This is where informed, imaginative engagement can fill the gap between science labs and society. Stories can be used to flesh out the practical and philosophical consequences in ways that technical discussions cannot. Lewis argued that by casting facts that “baffle the intellect” into an imaginary world, stories can make them “for the first time appear in their real potency.”4 Good stories help us experience the facts, in other words. “The story does what no theorem can quite do,” he wrote. “It may not be ‘like real life’ in the superficial sense: but it sets before us an image of what reality may well be like.”5
Lewis’s science fiction novel That Hideous Strength (1945) sought to enflesh the philosophical ideas of The Abolition of Man mentioned above. The latest novel from science fiction writer Blake Crouch offers just such an approach for gene editing.
Titled Upgrade,6 the novel imagines a world in which gene editing has reached its highest conceivable potency, giving us the opportunity to experience its possible benefits and risks. In this, Crouch’s story explores the potential ramifications of Man’s new ability to control Nature through technologies like CRISPR.
The Power of Gene Editing
CRISPR is a naturally occurring bacterial defense mechanism that can genetically modify infecting viruses. Like humans, bacteria are also vulnerable to viral infections. It is estimated that as many as 1031 viruses (called bacteriophages) infect bacteria exclusively.7 Just as our own bodies’ immune systems have sophisticated ways to fight these pathogens, bacterial populations have their own complex defense systems. A little over a decade ago, scientists studying these systems discovered one that could mutate viral DNA in a remarkably precise and repeatable way. They were able to reconfigure the mutation mechanism so that it could be used in mammalian cells, and thus, recombinant DNA technology took a giant leap forward.
The desire to cure diseases resulting from DNA mutations has been the primary motivator for developing CRISPR. Devastating genetic conditions like sickle-cell anemia, cystic fibrosis, and muscular dystrophy could soon be things of the past. In addition to offering cures, scientists realize that the ability to edit genomes offers the power to do far more. From creating hardier crops, ultra-muscular police dogs, and mosquitoes unable to transmit malaria to the resurrection of extinct species such as the woolly mammoth, scientists are utilizing the new biotechnology in a vast array of applications at exponential rates. In just the first few years after the discovery, one scientist engineered the first gene-edited human babies, moving the technology from treatments in diseased, uninheritable cells to germline cell alterations that are inheritable and permanent. Though the researcher responsible received widespread condemnation by the scientific establishment, his actions reveal that the floodgates are now open.8
With CRISPR, Lewis’s concern that scientists would be able to exert powerful control over all subsequent generations has become the new reality. Many scientists on the cutting edge of this technology worry about what authority will oversee its ethical boundaries and by what standards the boundary lines will be drawn. As mentioned, key researchers involved in CRISPR’s discovery are calling for greater transparency with the public about its potential benefits and risks, especially when it comes to germline gene editing (edits to cells that are inheritable). One such scientist is Jennifer Doudna, recipient of the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for her work in discovering CRISPR and reconfiguring it for use in mammalian cells. “It’s up to scientists to bring these breakthroughs to the public’s attention,” she writes, “to introduce and demystify their technical accomplishments so the public can understand their implications and decide how to use them.”9 But are scientists like Doudna too late to stop the oncoming flood waters?
Imaginative Rendering of the Potential of Gene Editing. Crouch’s Upgrade offers an imaginative exploration of what letting the floodgates open could mean. In an interview with Time, Crouch recounts that in working with subject-matter experts as he wrote the book, he realized that its central thesis is more science than fiction and more now than future. “We’re already living in the future,” states Crouch. “I don’t think science fiction exists anymore. All of the threats and promises in this book are at our fingertips.”10
Set in the second half of this century, Crouch’s story opens in a world where gene editing has been tried, has failed with global catastrophic consequences, and is now under intense governmental surveillance and suppression. Despite the attempts at containment by the Gene Protection Agency (GPA), the science will not be checked. Gene editing continues in so-called black sites, as our protagonist, GPA agent Logan Ramsey, learns. Ramsey unwittingly becomes the first genetically modified human after being infected with a virus loaded with a panoply of CRISPR upgrades during a routine bust of one of the rogue labs.
The first part of the book involves Ramsey’s quest to discover who was behind his upgrade while he must simultaneously come to grips with heightened abilities that are increasingly setting him apart from others. Once the who behind his upgrade is discovered, it becomes clear that Ramsey is the first test case in a plot to force gene editing technology upon the entire world. Ramsey must decide if he will participate in a dangerous gamble to upgrade all of mankind for the sake of future generations, a move that is certain to result in the sacrifice of many innocent lives in the short term. The antagonists hope that gene editing will enable mankind to reach a level of intelligence that will ensure it does not destroy itself. As one important character in the story states, “The greatest threat to our species lies within us.”11
Importantly, none of the characters involved in the plot act out of purely selfish motives — none are obviously diabolical. They all want to “make the world a better place” in terms of what they genuinely understand to be “better.” Yet all of them fail to see that infecting entire populations with gene-upgrading viruses without their consent — even if it confers some kind of “bettering” edits, be it in intelligence or empathy — represents a gross violation of human dignity.
Therefore, whether purposely or not, Crouch’s novel compellingly depicts Lewis’s prophetic concerns that such technology will inevitably lead to a dangerous concentration of power. In Upgrade, life-altering and irreversible genetic decisions are made by the few, without permission of the many, including subsequent generations. With the utmost hubris, the characters believe their feelings of benevolence towards humanity in the abstract are sufficient to validate the extreme measures they take against the individuals they infect. They fail to consider their actions with respect to any transcendent moral authority that could hold them accountable. Lewis warned that without a shared belief in objective morality — a rational morality that transcends Nature — any benevolent impulses are on shaky ground. History itself, he writes, has given us precious few examples of those “who, having stepped outside traditional morality and attained power, [have] used that power benevolently.”12 Upgrade persuasively suggests that even with the best of motives, the likelihood that mankind could responsibly use such powerful capabilities is astonishingly small.
Human Suffering and Human Dignity. Upgrade features characters who primarily aim to use gene editing to alleviate human suffering. They all see it as their duty to help humanity by whatever means possible. They are willing to use various means to reach that end, some of which are incredibly risky and will certainly cause massive loss of life in the short term — a gamble they are willing to take. Crouch’s story reveals the complicated connection between lessening human suffering and the need to recognize the worth of all human beings at every stage of life, including future generations. All the main characters in Upgrade are ultimately found to be willing to make short-term sacrifices in human dignity to attain some sort of pain-free existence in the future. In this, they are remarkably realistic.
It is good to want to alleviate human suffering as much as possible. It can be argued that adopting this value with respect to the entire human race, regardless of creed, color, or country, represents the fruit of 2000 years of Christian influence on culture. At the heart of this value is the dignity of all humans as the bearers of God’s image and (at least potential) beneficiaries of His salvific intervention in history. There are numerous instances already, however, where ending human suffering has led to a violation of human dignity. In vitro fertilization (IVF) is one such example already widely used — a technology developed to relieve the anguish of infertile couples. In the process of giving these couples the ability to have their biological children, human beings in the embryonic stage of development are created, and some are then either deemed undesirable and destroyed or frozen for indefinite periods. Doudna writes that fertility clinics are already using preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) to select out less desirable traits in human beings in the embryonic stage. She warns:
The list of known associations between certain gene variants and a diverse list of traits continues to grow, and as the PGD [preimplantation genetic diagnosis] improves further, what’s to stop fertility clinics from consulting this genetic information so they can offer their consumers even more choices when it comes to selecting the most desirable or “best” embryos….When fertility doctors eventually realize that they have the ability to enhance embryos’ genomes with many, many more gene variants than could be provided by any given set of parents, will they really pause to reflect on the possible consequences? Or will they rush to make use of this newfound power, blindly grasping a genetic tool that, wielded in the dark, cannot be fully controlled?13
Doudna’s concerns underscore the tension between maintaining human dignity and relieving human suffering. Without a well-developed ethic of the former, attempts to alleviate the latter can compromise human life at its most vulnerable stages and in irreversible ways. Only a well-grounded understanding of the value and dignity of human beings at all stages of development can provide a sound metric to draw the ethical boundaries around using such a powerful tool as CRISPR gene editing. Lewis argued that values must be grounded in a transcendent rational morality. Anything less is unimaginably dangerous.
CRISPR and Christians. It is important to remember that CRISPR is a naturally occurring bacterial defense system. Being natural means that it was nearly inevitable that we would discover it one day as we explored the works of God’s hands. The drive to find cures and therapies for devastating diseases makes it even more probable that we will eventually unlock its full gene-editing potential. CRISPR is not unlike that famous apple that was too tempting not to pluck. In God’s sovereignty, He knew this ethical challenge was coming for humanity. This is an interesting thing to ponder, indeed.
More immediately, Christians should accept the challenge of understanding the science of gene editing and think through its theological and philosophical implications. Novels such as Crouch’s Upgrade can help in this regard. As followers of Christ, we are responsible for grasping these technologies at their most fundamental level before using them ourselves. We must also bring a robust belief in human dignity to any public conversation about the ethical boundaries of gene editing. The good news is that Christians are well-equipped to be at the forefront of the discussion because we have the strongest basis to protect human life at all stages. We ground human dignity in the transcendent law of God, in the doctrine of the imago dei, and in God’s salvific intervention in our world through His Incarnation.
All human beings were embryos at one point in their lives. More unfathomable is the reality that Jesus Christ was, too. The Maker of heaven and earth, in the fullness of time, became an embryo, and He did this to offer all of mankind eternal life. That gives significance to all human beings at every stage of development in a way that nothing else can. —Rebekah Valerius
Rebekah Valerius holds a BS in biochemistry from The University of Texas at Arlington and an MA in apologetics from Houston Christian University. She is on the Leadership Council of the Society for Women of Letters.
NOTES
- Jennifer A. Doudna and Samuel H. Sternberg, A Crack in Creation: Gene Editing and the Unthinkable Power to Control Evolution (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2017), 188.
- C. S. Lewis, The Abolition of Man (1943; New York: Macmillan Publishing Co., 1955), 71.
- Lewis, The Abolition of Man, 72.
- C. S. Lewis, “On Stories” and “Sometimes Fairy Stories May Say What’s Best to Be Said,” in On Stories: And Other Essays on Literature (Orlando, FL: Harvest Books, 2002), 21, 70, 72.
- Lewis, On Stories, 21.
- Blake Crouch, Upgrade: A Novel (New York: Ballantine Books, 2022).
- Doudna and Sternberg, A Crack in Creation, 47.
- Dennis Normile, “Chinese Scientist Who Produced Genetically Altered Babies Sentenced to 3 Years in Jail,” Science, December 30, 2019, https://www.science.org/content/article/chinese-scientist-who-produced-genetically-altered-babies-sentenced-3-years-jail.
- Doudna and Sternberg, A Crack in Creation, 205.
- Annabel Gutterman, “Blake Crouch No Longer Believes in Science Fiction,” Time, July 6, 2022, https://time.com/6189737/blake-crouch-interview-upgrade/.
- Crouch, Upgrade, 104.
- Lewis, The Abolition of Man, 78.
- Doudna and Sternberg, A Crack in Creation, 197.
