Yesterday’s science fiction has, in some respects, become today’s reality. The question is no longer only, “What if?” Perhaps we also need to ask, “What now?”
There was a time when many things we take for granted today belonged to the world of science fiction.
I remember Dick Tracy talking into his wrist radio. It seemed futuristic, even fanciful. Today we wear watches that make phone calls, send messages, monitor our heart rates, give us directions, and connect us instantaneously with people around the world.
We watched The Jetsons and laughed at video calls, robots, automated homes, and futuristic transportation. Programs such as Lost in Space introduced us to intelligent machines and technologies that seemed far beyond anything we could imagine experiencing in our lifetimes.
Yet here we are.
Artificial intelligence can converse with us and generate words, images, music, computer code, and ideas. Cars can increasingly navigate without direct human control. Robots perform tasks once requiring human hands. We communicate face-to-face across continents through devices we carry in our pockets.
Yesterday’s science fiction has, in some respects, become today’s reality.
Of course, science-fiction writers weren’t necessarily prophets, and not everything imagined in movies and television has, or will, come true.
But science fiction has often done something interesting:
It asks tomorrow’s ethical questions before tomorrow arrives.
And that leaves me asking some “What if?” questions of my own.
Not accusations.
Not conspiracy theories.
But Questions.
Because sometimes wisdom requires us to ask questions before technological possibilities become cultural inevitabilities.
BEFORE THE “WHAT IF?” CONSIDER THE “WHAT IS”
Before we speculate about tomorrow, let’s be honest about where we already are.
Some things that would have sounded like science fiction to previous generations are established realities today.
1. GENETICALLY MODIFIED FOOD IS ALREADY PART OF OUR FOOD SUPPLY
Genetically engineered crops aren’t theoretical. They have been available to American consumers since the early 1990s. Corn, soybeans, cotton, canola, sugar beets, potatoes, apples, papaya, squash, and other crops have varieties developed through biotechnology.
The reasons include insect resistance, easier weed management, reducing crop loss, improving certain nutritional characteristics, increasing storage life, and producing desired traits.
According to the FDA, foods from genetically engineered plants are subject to the same food and safety requirements as conventionally bred foods, and the agency states that the genetically engineered foods it has evaluated have not shown greater health risks than comparable conventional foods.
So we should be precise.
The fact that something has been genetically modified does not automatically mean it is dangerous.
But something enormously significant has happened:
Humanity now possesses the ability to intentionally alter genetic characteristics in living organisms with a precision previous generations did not possess.
That fact alone deserves thoughtful consideration.
2. ANIMALS HAVE BEEN CLONED
When Dolly the sheep was introduced to the world in the 1990s, animal cloning sounded almost unbelievable.
It isn’t unbelievable anymore. Cattle, pigs, goats, sheep, and other animals have been cloned.
The FDA concluded after its risk assessment that meat and milk from clones of cattle, swine, and goats, as well as food from the offspring of clones traditionally used for food, are as safe to consume as food from conventionally bred animals.
Interestingly, cloning isn’t primarily intended to produce millions of identical steaks or gallons of milk. Clones represent only a tiny portion of American livestock and are primarily valuable as breeding animals. Their conventionally reproduced offspring are much more likely to enter the food supply.
Again, my purpose isn’t to declare cloning inherently evil.
It is simply to recognize: Something that belonged to science fiction within our lifetimes became scientific reality.
3. LIVESTOCK CAN BE BIOLOGICALLY MANAGED FOR GREATER PRODUCTION
Modern agriculture has also dramatically altered how food animals are raised.
Selective breeding, nutrition, veterinary medicines, reproduction technologies, antibiotics under regulated circumstances, and other methods have allowed enormous increases in food production.
There are also FDA approved steroid hormone implants used to promote growth in beef cattle and sheep. Contrary to a common misconception, growth promoting steroid implants are not approved in the United States for poultry, pigs, dairy cows, or veal calves.
The FDA maintains that approved hormone products used according to their conditions of approval produce food that is safe for human consumption.
Again, my concern here isn’t to make claims the evidence doesn’t support.
My larger observation is this:
We have become remarkably skilled at manipulating biological processes to increase efficiency and production.
That ability might bring some benefits in the estimation of some.
BUT, it should awaken us to the necessity to also bring responsibility and accountability.
4. WE CAN NOW EDIT HUMAN GENES
This is where the conversation becomes even more significant.
Scientists aren’t merely modifying plants anymore. We can modify human cells genetically.
Gene therapy is already being used to treat serious diseases, and some treatments involve actual genome editing.
One striking example is CASGEVY, a therapy utilizing CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing technology to treat sickle cell disease and transfusion-dependent beta-thalassemia. In 2026, the FDA expanded its approval to patients as young as two years old.
Think about what that means.
Doctors can remove a patient’s own blood-producing stem cells, genetically edit them, and return the modified cells to the patient with the goal of treating devastating disease.
That isn’t science fiction.
That is medicine today.
And there is something extraordinary and compassionate about using scientific knowledge to alleviate suffering.
But it also introduces a distinction that will become increasingly important:
There is a difference between treating a person and redesigning a person.
There is a difference between attempting to cure disease and attempting to manufacture preferred human characteristics.
Where exactly is that boundary?
Our generation may increasingly be required to answer that question.
5. HUMAN EMBRYOS CAN BE GENETICALLY EDITED
The technology reaches further still.
Scientists possess the ability to edit DNA in human embryos in laboratory research.
There is an important distinction between somatic gene editing and heritable—or germline—editing.
Somatic editing changes cells in an existing patient. Those changes generally aren’t passed to the patient’s children.
Heritable editing potentially changes embryos, eggs, sperm, or their precursors in ways that could be transmitted to future generations.
The World Health Organization recognizes the enormous potential of human genome editing for treating disease but also identifies significant scientific, ethical, and societal concerns, especially when genetic alterations could be inherited by future generations.
WHO has stated that it would be irresponsible at this time to proceed with clinical applications of human germline genome editing.
Why?
Because now we aren’t merely talking about treating one patient. We are potentially talking about altering genetic characteristics that could pass from one generation to another. The decisions of one generation could literally become embedded biologically in generations that follow.
Suddenly the phrase “generational consequences” takes on another dimension.
6. MEAT CAN NOW BE GROWN FROM ANIMAL CELLS
Here is another development that sounds as though it belongs in a science-fiction screenplay.
Animal cells can be taken and grown in controlled environments, such as bioreactors, to produce food without raising and slaughtering an entire animal in the conventional way.
It is commonly called cultivated, cultured, or cell-cultured meat.
This isn’t simply a plant-based hamburger designed to taste like meat. These products are grown from actual animal cells.
The FDA and USDA have established a regulatory framework for cell-cultured meat and poultry, and USDA has already inspected establishments producing cell-cultured poultry products.
Once again, there may eventually be legitimate benefits associated with these technologies.
BUT consider how rapidly the boundaries of what previous generations thought possible are moving.
We can modify plants.
We can clone animals.
We can grow meat from animal cells.
We can edit human cells.
We can genetically alter human embryos experimentally.
And we are only beginning to understand where all of this may lead.
Which brings me back to an old movie.
SOYLENT GREEN: WHEN PEOPLE BECOME PRODUCTS
In 1973, Charlton Heston starred in a science fiction movie called Soylent Green.
Interestingly, the movie was set in what was then the distant future: 2022. The world it portrayed was suffering from environmental degradation, shortages, overcrowding, extreme economic inequality, and dwindling natural food supplies. An enormous corporation provided manufactured food products to the population.
Detective Frank Thorn begins investigating the murder of a wealthy executive and eventually discovers something horrifying about the corporation’s newest food product.
Soylent Green wasn’t what people had been told it was. The shocking discovery was that it was being manufactured from human remains.
The fictional revelation became one of cinema’s memorable moments: “Soylent Green is people!”
Now, let me be very clear.
I am not suggesting that Soylent Green describes what is happening today.
Nor am I suggesting some hidden conspiracy in which people are secretly being turned into food.
That would miss my point entirely.
The deeper questions raised by the movie are far more important:
What happens when human beings become commodities?
What happens when efficiency becomes more important than dignity?
What happens when economics becomes more important than ethics?
What happens when technological capability outruns moral restraint?
What happens when human life is valued primarily according to usefulness?
Perhaps Soylent Green wasn’t ultimately about food.
Perhaps its deeper warning was about what happens when a society loses its understanding of the sacredness of human life.
FROM GENETICALLY MODIFIED FOOD TO GENETICALLY MODIFIED HUMANS?
Now we arrive at my intentional play on words:
Genetically Modified Humans.
We have genetically modified plants.
We have cloned animals.
We have manipulated reproduction.
We can culture animal cells for food.
We can genetically alter human cells to treat disease.
Scientists can edit human embryos experimentally.
So where does the road lead from here?
I don’t pretend to know. But I believe we should be willing to ask.
What if healing eventually becomes enhancement?
What if correcting a devastating genetic disorder eventually becomes selecting preferred characteristics?
What if parents someday can choose increasingly specific characteristics of their children?
What if intelligence, physical characteristics, athletic ability, appearance, longevity, or other traits become commercially selectable?
What if genetic advantages become available primarily to those wealthy enough to afford them?
What if corporations eventually possess ownership rights over increasingly significant pieces of biological technology?
What if economic interests begin determining what constitutes a “desirable” human being?
And perhaps the most sobering question: What if our ability to modify humanity advances faster than our understanding of what humanity actually is?
THE FIRST DESIGNER OF HUMANITY WAS GOD
Long before we understood chromosomes, genomes, DNA, or genetic codes, Scripture made an extraordinary declaration:
“So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.” Genesis 1:27
Human beings aren’t merely biological machines.
We aren’t simply collections of genetic information.
We aren’t products.
We aren’t commodities.
We aren’t experiments.
We are image-bearers of God. Psalm 139 says:
“I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.”
Science can increasingly explain how biological processes work.
But science by itself cannot tell us why human life possesses intrinsic value.
Science can describe DNA.
It cannot determine human dignity.
Science can describe conception.
It cannot ultimately tell us why life is sacred.
Science can discover what is technologically possible.
It cannot by itself determine what is morally permissible.
For those questions, we need wisdom beyond ourselves.
THE TREE OF KNOWLEDGE IS STILL WITH US
I’ve written and taught previously about the two significant trees in the Garden: the Tree of Life and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.
Humanity’s first temptation involved knowledge disconnected from trust and obedience to God.
The serpent challenged what God had said. Another voice offered another interpretation. And humanity was confronted with a question every generation still faces: Whose voice will you believe?
The temptation wasn’t merely to learn something. It was the temptation toward knowledge independent of God’s boundaries.
“You will be like God.”
Think about that phrase in light of the technological possibilities before us today.
There is nothing inherently sinful about discovering how God’s creation works. But there is a profound difference between discovering creation and attempting to become the Creator.
The Apostle Paul reminds us:
“Knowledge puffs up, but love edifies.” 1 Corinthians 8:1
Knowledge and wisdom aren’t necessarily the same thing.
Knowledge asks, “Can we?”
Wisdom asks, “Should we?”
Knowledge discovers possibilities.
Wisdom recognizes boundaries.
BABEL: WHEN CAPABILITY OUTRAN CHARACTER
Genesis 11 gives us another fascinating picture.
Human beings developed new construction capabilities, gathered together, and determined to accomplish something unprecedented. They said:
“Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top is in the heavens; let us make a name for ourselves…” Genesis 11:4**
Notice the motivation: “Let us make a name for ourselves.”
Human ingenuity became joined to human pride. God observed:
“Now nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them.” Genesis 11:6
Technology itself wasn’t necessarily the sin of Babel. The issue was the human heart.
Their capability had outgrown their humility.
Their innovation had become disconnected from submission to God.
Perhaps Babel gives every technologically advanced civilization an important warning:
Capability without character can become dangerous.
Science without morality can become destructive.
Knowledge without wisdom can become arrogant.
Progress without boundaries can become tyranny.
And technology without reverence for human dignity can eventually turn people into products.
WHEN THE ABNORMAL BECOMES NORMAL
I’ve written before about how gradual desensitization can change a culture.
What shocks one generation may become tolerated by another.
What becomes tolerated can eventually become accepted.
What becomes accepted can eventually become normalized.
And once something becomes normal, questioning it can make the person asking questions appear abnormal.
That doesn’t mean everything new is wrong. Far from it. Many advancements have been tremendous blessings. But neither should we assume that everything labeled “progress” necessarily represents progress.
There are moral laws just as there are natural laws. God establishes boundaries not because He desires to deprive humanity, but because the Creator understands His creation better than the creation understands itself.
PERHAPS WE ARE ALREADY MODIFYING HUMANITY
And this brings me to another dimension of my title. Maybe the greatest concern isn’t merely whether someone eventually modifies human DNA. Perhaps humanity is already being modified in other ways.
Culturally modified.
Morally modified.
Technologically modified.
Relationally modified.
Spiritually modified.
Algorithms increasingly influence what we see.
Social media influences how we measure acceptance.
Technology mediates our relationships.
Artificial intelligence increasingly participates in our work, education, creativity, decision-making, and communication.
Our attention can be purchased.
Our preferences can be tracked.
Our behavior can be predicted.
Our biology can increasingly be manipulated.
And in the midst of it all, our understanding of what it means to be human can gradually become disconnected from the One who created humanity.
In something else I’ve taught from Genesis, Adam and Eve attempted to cover themselves with fig leaves after listening to the wrong voice.
We still manufacture fig leaves.
Success.
Image.
Performance.
Recognition.
Technology.
Knowledge.
Even religion.
But none of them can answer the fundamental question:
Who told you who you are? Who told you that you were naked?
Our identity ultimately cannot come from a laboratory, algorithm, corporation, government, culture, or even merely from ourselves.
Our identity begins with our Creator.
“WHAT IF?”: QUESTIONS WORTH ASKING BEFORE TOMORROW ARRIVES
So I’m not writing this as a scientist. I’m writing as a minister, a leader, a father, and someone who has lived long enough to see things once considered impossible become ordinary.
I remember when talking into your watch was science fiction. Today nobody gives it a second thought.
So perhaps we should ask some questions while today’s “impossible” is still impossible.
What if genetic technology eventually allows us to select human characteristics?
What if artificial intelligence and biotechnology increasingly converge?
What if technology allows human beings to live dramatically longer lives?
What if genetic modification produces unforeseen consequences that don’t become apparent for generations?
What if commercial interests begin influencing what characteristics are considered desirable?
What if society begins distinguishing between genetically “enhanced” and “unenhanced” people?
What if preventing suffering gradually becomes preventing the existence of people whom society believes might suffer?
History should make us humble enough to recognize that supposedly enlightened civilizations have made horrific judgments concerning which human lives were considered valuable.
Therefore, the issue isn’t whether Christians should fear science. We shouldn’t.
The issue is whether our wisdom, character, ethics, and reverence for God can keep pace with our technological capabilities.
A GENERATION AT THE CROSSROADS
I’ve often written about individuals, leaders, churches, and nations finding themselves at crossroads. I believe humanity is standing at another one.
Technology will continue advancing.
Scientific discoveries will continue.
Artificial intelligence will become more sophisticated.
Genetic research will progress.
Medicine will accomplish things we can scarcely imagine today.
Some of those discoveries will be tremendous blessings. We should celebrate them.
Healing disease isn’t our enemy.
Relieving suffering isn’t our enemy.
Scientific discovery isn’t our enemy.
The enemy is knowledge without wisdom, power without character, progress without moral boundaries, and human achievement without humility before God.
Moses spoke to another generation standing at a crossroads:
“I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life…” Deuteronomy 30:19
That choice remains before us.
Perhaps the greatest danger isn’t that machines will eventually become more human.
Perhaps the greater danger is that humans become less human.
When humanity forgets its Creator, eventually we risk forgetting the sacred value of His creation.
So while the world races toward the next discovery, perhaps the Church needs to stand at the crossroads and ask questions others may be moving too quickly, or be too impressed with their own accomplishments to ask.
Not from fear.
Not from ignorance.
Not from conspiracy.
Not because we oppose scientific discovery.
But because we value truth.
Because we value wisdom.
Because we value appropriate boundaries.
Because we value human dignity.
Because we value life.
And because we still believe that every human being bears the image of God.
Yesterday, we watched science fiction and asked: “What if?”
Today, we may need to ask: “WHAT NOW?”
And before humanity becomes so captivated with what we are capable of creating, modifying, editing, or improving, perhaps we need once again to humble ourselves before the One who created us.
Because the ultimate question isn’t simply whether we have the power to modify humanity.
It is whether, in all our knowledge and technological achievement, we still remember what it means to be human.
BY DOUG STRINGER