Genetically modified soldiers should be developed and deployed.

As per my opponent's wishes, issues of funding and practicality will not be used in this round. They tend to ruin debates. 1)Escalation and brinkmanship When societies tend to develop new technology, its enemies seek to adapt and to go further in the development of such technology. The nuclear arms race is the most obvious example of this, but this is apparent throughout human history. Thus, the whole idea underlying essentially the whole pro argument is completely bunk. Nuclear weapons, bunker buster technology and the whole slew of 21st century military technology have not made war easier. In contrast it has lead to the development of more deadly guerilla tactics, the hiding of enemy forces in civilian populations to mitigate technological advantages the increased death toll associated with overall warfare. War has become more brutal and deadly precisely because of the advance in technology and not despite of it. Moreover, with in the realm of enhancements of individuals comes a whole slew of problems for a western technologically advanced nation. Terrorist or insurgent forces rely much more on human ability to infiltrate and destroy than do traditional military. Thus, the development of such technology should it fall into the hands of enemies will actually hurt us more on the broad scale of things. The benefits we gain will be counteracted in two ways. Our rivals such as Russia and China will use their resources and lack of scruples to push further and further in this technology draining our resources. 2)Morality My opponent will probably look at this heading and say, " morality is irrelevant to warfare." Yet, this is clearly not the case in the case of our military. We have quite a few standards in regard to how our soldiers can be conditioned or used. We do not allow mind-altering drugs or steroids to be used to turn them into more brutal or more effective killing machines. We do not allow anything near the degree of dehumanization the pro plan suggests. My opponent's plan is immoral on many grounds A)Destroys the notion of human agency i.When individuals are augmented and controlled by bacteria, computer chips or other artificial means, much of what essentially makes them human vanishes or diminishes. Their actions may no longer be under their control but may be artificially influenced or produced by an invasive part of their self. ii.As a government we should not allow individuals to choose this course of action because the risk associated with this is uninternalizable. We cannot rationally conceive the consequences of altering the way our mind if controlled or functions because we are limited by our present mindset of perception. iii.A government that offers soldiers a choice to lose their very humanity loses the ability to claim to be working for the interest of its troops. This corrodes the morality of a system, as individuals believe their very human morality is up for sale in pursuit of ends. iv.Religious opposition- Individuals of religious faith will likely view any system of implementation of chips and or microbes into human brains and therefore will associate the military as unjust an agent of the anti-christ. When dealing with religious zealots, this will significantly increase the hatred and violence of enemy combatants against our men. v.There is a thin line between enhancing our troops with bacteria or live microbes and using those as agents of bacterial warfare. Our morality as a fighting force is undermined by this lack of distinction. B)These are your brother's, sister's, cousin's and son's or at least someone else's i.My opponent somehow wants to suggest that these super solider's would others and that their fighting or loss would not impact us in anyway. These are still per my opponents definition human beings that must be taken from the population somehow. Currently we have an all volunteer army and so the individuals put in these roles would be those coming from your family or someone elses. This abrogation of responsibility for the solider's lives and their families shows that the pro side is not really looking out for morality or the lives of soldiers.