Should man chose his own biological future?

"All other things have a limited and fixed nature prescribed and bounded by our laws. You, with no limit or no bound, may choose for yourself the limits and bounds of your nature. We have placed you at the world's center so that you may survey everything else in the world. We have made you neither of heavenly nor of earthly stuff, neither mortal nor immortal, so that with free choice and dignity, you may fashion yourself into whatever form you choose. To you is granted the power of degrading yourself into the lower forms of life, the beasts, and to you is granted the power, contained in your intellect and judgment, to be reborn into the higher forms, the divine."

God speaking to Adam in Pico della Mirandola's 1486 book, "Oration on the Dignity of Man" quoted on page 106.

http://www.jetpress.org/volume15/forman.html

I don't even know what that means.

Originally posted by Kunsoo
I don't even know what that means.

It means should we embrace the end of humanity and start something
new or keep sitting in the trees until they all fall down?

Originally posted by Thequ1ck
It means should we embrace the end of humanity and start something
new or keep sitting in the trees until they all fall down?

Dr. Moreau has some new ideas?

Originally posted by Thequ1ck
"All other things have a limited and fixed nature prescribed and bounded by our laws. You, with no limit or no bound, may choose for yourself the limits and bounds of your nature. We have placed you at the world's center so that you may survey everything else in the world. We have made you neither of heavenly nor of earthly stuff, neither mortal nor immorta ...[text shortened]... on the Dignity of Man" quoted on page 106.

http://www.jetpress.org/volume15/forman.html

Smacks of pure unrefined narcissism.

However, on the other hand, why shouldn't man choose his own future, what's wrong with GM of human embryos?

Originally posted by scottishinnz
Smacks of pure unrefined narcissism.

However, on the other hand, why shouldn't man choose his own future, what's wrong with GM of human embryos?

Does it sound less narcissistic if I take God out of the picture?

"All other things have a limited and fixed nature prescribed and bounded by our laws. We, with no limit or no bound, may choose for ourselves the limits and bounds of our nature. We are placed at the world's center so that we may survey everything else in the world. We are made neither of heavenly nor of earthly stuff, neither mortal nor immortal, so that with free choice and dignity, we may fashion ourselves into whatever form we choose. To us is granted the power of degrading ourselves into the lower forms of life, the beasts, and to us is granted the power, contained in our intellect and judgment, to be reborn into the higher forms, the divine."

Originally posted by Thequ1ck
Does it sound less narcissistic if I take God out of the picture?

"All other things have a limited and fixed nature prescribed and bounded by our laws. We, with no limit or no bound, may choose for ourselves the limits and bounds of our nature. We are placed at the world's center so that we may survey everything else in the world. We are made neither of ...[text shortened]... er, contained in our intellect and judgment, to be reborn into the higher forms, the divine."

nope.

Originally posted by Thequ1ck
Does it sound less narcissistic if I take God out of the picture?

"All other things have a limited and fixed nature prescribed and bounded by our laws. We, with no limit or no bound, may choose for ourselves the limits and bounds of our nature. We are placed at the world's center so that we may survey everything else in the world. We are made neither of ...[text shortened]... er, contained in our intellect and judgment, to be reborn into the higher forms, the divine."

I disagree with every single sentence of your post, whether you include god or not.

All other things have a limited and fixed nature? What does that mean, and who says so?

We are with no limit or no bound? Nonsense. We have very definite limitations which are not chosen by us.

We were not placed at the world's center. That is a purely subjective and unwarranted point of view.

We are made entirely of earthly stuff. We are entirely mortal. It is open to debate as to whether we have free choice. We have a limited ability to fashion ourselves into whatever form we choose.

Other life forms (including "beasts" ) are not necessarily "lower" life forms. That is a purely subjective appraisal.

There is no such thing as the "divine", except as an abstract concept. I agree with scottishinnz that it is purely narcissistic to imagine you could attain such a state.