Chimeras & Bionics: what does being human mean?

A new movie and a new book are triggering new discussions about human hybrids (chimeras). The movie is “Splice” (IMDB synopsis…two young rebellious scientists, defy legal and ethical boundaries and forge ahead with a dangerous experiment: splicing together human and animal DNA to create a new organism) and the new book is “Lucy” by Laurence Gonzales, “…a novel about a half human, half bonobo, the result of a breeding experiment deep in the Congo jungle”. I would like to add another dimension to the discussions, the use of manufactured body parts or bionics in humans. Skipping all the “mad scientist” stuff, what are the most important questions that should be considered when contemplating re-engineering the human body with either animal parts or mechanical parts? We are technologically within reach of creating a human-animal hybrid and mechanical body parts have been used to replace  and sometimes to enhance missing or damaged limbs and internal organs since the 1960s. There are several states (Ohio, Arizona, Louisiana) that consider the hybrid technology so close that they have enacted laws to regulate or ban any research  into human-animal hybrids. Canada has banned all chimera research. I haven’t heard any negative comments about mechanical body parts or how much of the body we are allowed to replace with manufactured parts.

Consider what it means to be human. How should being human be defined? An example of classifying races in the US during the early years of our country we defined any person who had one parent who was black as being classified black. It would stand to reason that if one parent was white and one was black, the person was half black and half white. But during those early years, any black parentage automatically placed the person in the black racial group. Today we have added bi-racial as a group (at least on census forms). Some progress there. So if we create a human-animal hybrid, are they classified as human or animal? There is a lot riding on this classification. Civil rights and liberties, human rights, legal rights. If the creature is designated an animal, it could be used in experiments, as food, as body parts, as unpaid labor (like a horse), as a pet, etc. It might have few rights maybe similar to those given to dogs and cats now. How much of a human would it have to be to be classified a human? If 50% white and 50% black could be classified only as black up until the end of the 20^th century, would 50%  human, 50% bonobo carry an automatic classification of animal?

What constitutes a chimera? If I have a pigs heart valve surgically implanted into my heart, does that make me a human-animal hybrid? Would I be stripped of my human rights because my body is comprised of human and animal DNA?

If we can create or retrofit a human body with enough mechanical parts would we now have a bionic human? Same dilemma applies as to what constitutes being half human and half machine. If the human brain can be fitted with electrodes and the human heart with a pig’s heart valve, what species have we created and how should our laws apply to this person?

I have a mesh prothesis held in place with staples that was implanted to repair my hernia after my appendectomy. Does this mean that I am now bionic? If I develop a faulty heart valve and it is replaced with a pig’s heart valve, would I become a human-animal hybrid? Where is all this technology going?

We will have some significant challenges defining who is human in the 21^st century. I wonder if we will treat better any new species (with human DNA) that we might create? We will need to decide in this century because the technology is here. Our next Civil War may be between the human species and a half-human/bionic species.