The film Gattaca (1997) speaks to this better than I can.
You're gonna miss your flight Vincent
Human genetic engineering is coming
31–40 of 91 posts
Re: Human genetic engineering is coming
#32“I expect that human genetic engineering, both therapeutic and “vanity” applications, will become an unfathomably profitable industry in the coming decades. I am open to the possibility that germline editing could be ethically applied in narrowly defined arenas of public health. But the determination of where to draw the lines should not be left up to venture capitalists and self-centred founders, as it was to a larg…
I love to hate on tech bros as much as the next tech bro, but I've watched so many people suffer with terrible diseases that I'm totally fine if it we end up with 1000 hairloss biotech startups if that also means we get one that prevents Alzheimer's.
Re: Human genetic engineering is coming
#33This may seem like a controversial opinion, but I think that it's a good development. Some people have lost the "genetic lottery" in ways that make them dependent on medication. And for some, it may block career options, such as color vision deficiencies. We should embrace it, instead of painting dystopian scenarios. At least, we shouldn't stop people from fixing problems that they were unfairly born with.
You say that but most of the ways that humans would want fixing have already been readily implemented via surgery. Between boobjobs, HGH, limb-lengthening surgery, hair transplants, and even labiaplasty, there’s very little you can’t fix on your body today. My fear is that extremist groups and governments will use this tech to change children according to their religious or extremist doctrine. Stuff like growing wome…
What an incredibly uninformed and ableist take. There are a plethora of illnesses and disorders that are merely coped with. With no way of improving prognosis, the best medical science can offer is attempting to improve the quality of the life of the individual while they waste away.
Re: Human genetic engineering is coming
#34The current push for equity combined with the technical ability to genetically engineer humans is frightening. Society has decided we have "incorrect" levels of diversity...though nobody can answer what the correct levels are. Without any question of "how do you know what you're doing is correct" we're changing our environment as much as possible to achieve the "correct" level of diversity. It's pure luck we can only…
Maybe instead this stuff will be kept away from the general public and is only accessible to the true upper class, who is above the equity reshuffling of the unwashed masses anyway. Capital and social capital is already giving their offspring an uncatchable advantage on, or outside of levelled playing fields. Genetic engineering could finally cement them into a biological royalty.
Why would anyone do that? It makes a great dystopian novel storyline, but no other medical advancement has ever been treated that way. The elites could easily have everyone dying of simple infections, but I can get antibiotics for $5 at the Walmart pharmacy. The elites could easily have people elderly dying of heart disease at much higher rates but Medicare pays tens of thousands of dollars for heart surgery on senior citizens.
Re: Human genetic engineering is coming
#35It is coming, but too slowly. Everyone, including people itt, gesture vaguely towards "ethical considerations", without being able to specify what they are and how they outweigh the massive ethical benefits. >I expect that human genetic engineering, both therapeutic and “vanity” applications, will become an unfathomably profitable industry in the coming decades. The most important application, by far, dwarfing both t…
This. Problems like preserving life on earth, and expanding to other planets are something that our descendants will have to solve. Increasing the intelligence of future generations is not only ethical, it is our duty.
Re: Human genetic engineering is coming
#36I think for future space travel we need genetic modifications.
Re: Human genetic engineering is coming
#37Re: Human genetic engineering is coming
#38Earlier quoted context omitted.
Maybe instead this stuff will be kept away from the general public and is only accessible to the true upper class, who is above the equity reshuffling of the unwashed masses anyway. Capital and social capital is already giving their offspring an uncatchable advantage on, or outside of levelled playing fields. Genetic engineering could finally cement them into a biological royalty.
Why would anyone do that? It makes a great dystopian novel storyline, but no other medical advancement has ever been treated that way. The elites could easily have everyone dying of simple infections, but I can get antibiotics for $5 at the Walmart pharmacy. The elites could easily have people elderly dying of heart disease at much higher rates but Medicare pays tens of thousands of dollars for heart surgery on senio…
No one is being evil by trying to harm others. Everyone is just seeing if they can get a reasonable advantage for themselves. All of us are doing it on a scale that's available to us, it's an emergent behaviour, not a conspiracy.
"Surely doing wild west genetic engineering would be bad, right? So let's have oversight and laws around it."
"But our friends advised us to check out that one clinic when we're in Dubai next time, and their kids are really exceptionally pretty and are doing so well in sports. I want to be careful for our baby since my grandfather had that one condition..."
Re: Human genetic engineering is coming
#39“I expect that human genetic engineering, both therapeutic and “vanity” applications, will become an unfathomably profitable industry in the coming decades. I am open to the possibility that germline editing could be ethically applied in narrowly defined arenas of public health. But the determination of where to draw the lines should not be left up to venture capitalists and self-centred founders, as it was to a larg…
I love to hate on tech bros as much as the next tech bro, but I've watched so many people suffer with terrible diseases that I'm totally fine if it we end up with 1000 hairloss biotech startups if that also means we get one that prevents Alzheimer's.
I’m not saying that we should outlaw Cas9 or something. I’m saying that a company with the ethics of Theranos and the leadership of Theranos and the gold-plated, infinite money VC backing of Theranos playing jazz with the human germline is the stuff of nightmares.
Re: Human genetic engineering is coming
#40Earlier quoted context omitted.
And at what point does "problems that they were unfairly born with" stop?
Nowhere! Why draw the line right beneath yourself, we could all be better and it sucks that we aren't
If parents could get their children cured so they don't turn into borderline-autistic weirdos, where would we get our tech company CEOs? :)
Of course, it's not like society has any choice - if rival nations are willing to genetically engineer humans, can we afford to fall behind?