Inequality in the Most Concrete, Material Sense

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/chronicle/archive/2005/11/06/INGKGFGTEG1.DTL

I started hearing of sex selection less than a decade ago. It seems sequitur that once something like that is acheived, other things will be as well. But... designer humans? That's just too creepy. That's even creepier than the lifelike robots they started building in Japan.

What are the implications of something like this? Increased longevity, and perhaps increased strength, durability, et cetera.... what these biologist tag as "Liberation Biology" seems more divisive than liberating. Obviously these new human modifications will cost a pretty penny, but the end result is humans that are.... better. It could be possible that these improved humans become so advanced that so diverged from the race that they would become a new species. Equality, as we know it would be destroyed forever. The have-nots.... what becomes of them? As a wannabe Libertarian, I usually ignore talk of haves and have nots--I'm no Leftist. But I have always counted on the de-facto equality of humans because of their common biological traits. But could modified humans be considered equal to their "natural" forebears? That is almost like asking if a housecat is equal to a lion. They may have some traits in common, but the differences are so marked and staggering that it's almost not worth mentioning their similarities...

This certainly reminds me of the movie Gattaca, but in that movie, they simply removed genetic defects and altered DNA to reach the maximum of human potential. They didn't try to create superbeings. I don't see the future as rosily as these wannabe gods do.....