Is Genetic Research, Stem-Cell Therapy and Understanding DNA “Playing God”?

November 18, 2010

As Robert Frost’s poem posits, humankind will always seek to extend its reach. In a literal sense the poem, only a few lines of which we’ve quoted, is about a peach tree planted too far north. But its message has a timeless figurative meaning. Seventy years ago, Frost’s depiction of the hubris of planting a fruit tree beyond its climatic limits may have had the commonsense ring of truth. One can see the reader mulling it over: “Ah, yes, too cold. What were they thinking?” Or, “How foolish to expect this would work out well.” (Vision.org)