Designer Babies

[MrMaooz]

So, supposedly, in a decade or so, genetic engineering will reach new heights. Many analysts have predicted that people will be able to design their own kids. What do you guys think of this? How will it effect the future and is it ethical?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/14/ethics-of-designer-babies_n_4966189.html

 

[Thundercrack85]

I honestly don't see this as such a major development. There is already such a disparity between the upper class, and all the other classes. We already have significant social stratification. This will just make that disparity more obvious, when all the wealthy and successful people will also be the best looking, and most athletic. Hell, athletes already live in a separate world from ordinary people.

The have nots will be slightly worse off, and the haves will be slightly better off.

Before the robots kill us all indiscriminately.

 

[BestGirl]

^Until the technology becomes cheap enough that everyone can afford it, and then we'll be a planet of demigods.

 

[Ant-manic]

Hitler would approve.

 

[Thundercrack85]

Realistically, I imagine there will be degrees of enhancements (or degrees of quality, anyway). But it will first be for the super rich. Then also just the rich. Then, after a while, it will trickle down to the middle class.

But it's the 21st century, and there are still people going hungry (yes, even in America), so it's safe to say there will be a lot of people who simply will not be able to afford the luxury.

I really hope for some serious class warfare myself, so, maybe this will result in that. Long overdo.

Though the rich might kill us all, so maybe I shouldn't be quite so eager.

 

[Ant-manic]

I really hope for some serious class warfare myself, so, maybe this will result in that. Long overdo.

you say overdue. i say overdone. class warfare has been present since, at least, the birth of the United States. it's just that people only notice when it turns violent. but i think that most rioting starts with pent-up aggression over inequality.

 

[Thundercrack85]

Well, in an ideal world (or even a mildly better one), wealth would be distributed more evenly. The fact that we have multi-billionaires while people starve to death is rather bothersome to me.

If we have class warfare right now, it's simply not fierce enough. I think that this – genetic engineering – would drive it to the point that it has to be addressed in a real way. Or we'll just kill each other.

But it may all be for nothing, since the robots will do away with us one way or the other.

 

[Thundercrack85]

If anyone wonders why I keep talking about the robots, I see genetic engineering as a footnote in history next to robotics. Both will be huge in the next hundred years. But I see one changing the world substantially.

 

[BestGirl]

Realistically, I imagine there will be degrees of enhancements (or degrees of quality, anyway). But it will first be for the super rich. Then also just the rich. Then, after a while, it will trickle down to the middle class.

But it's the 21st century, and there are still people going hungry (yes, even in America), so it's safe to say there will be a lot of people who simply will not be able to afford the luxury.

I really hope for some serious class warfare myself, so, maybe this will result in that. Long overdo.

Though the rich might kill us all, so maybe I shouldn't be quite so eager.

The rich and middle class will get tired of looking at ugly poor people and will grudgingly pay the tax required for mandatory genetic manipulation of the lower classes.

 

[Thundercrack85]

Considering they won't even pay for their basic health needs right now, I'm a bit skeptical.

More likely they'll build perfect habitats in space and move there.

Or kill all the ugly people.

Or both.

 

[GENERAL RAAM582]

Kids can't pick their parents, so why should parents be able to pick their kids?

 

[Thundercrack85]

In fairness, if your family is cursed with bad genetic conditions, why wouldn't you fix them? Why should a child be born with a bad heart or kidneys?

 

[Ant-manic]

Considering they won't even pay for their basic health needs right now, I'm a bit skeptical.

More likely they'll build perfect habitats in space and move there.

Or kill all the ugly people.

Or both.

soylent green

 

[Ant-manic]

In fairness, if your family is cursed with bad genetic conditions, why wouldn't you fix them? Why should a child be born with a bad heart or kidneys?

why would you have kids?

 

[Andrew Lucas]

Crazy talk.

 

[Thundercrack85]

why would you have kids?

Kind of our main reason for existing.

 

[Midnyte_Sun]

I think in terms of making a child free from some sort of inherited cancer and other diseases, that's great.

It won't fix societies other glaring problems, such as the problem of bad parenting and all the years of psychological and physical abuse that comes with that.

In terms of changing hair, skin, and eye color, I can see that being a big market in South and East Asia.

 

[Ant-manic]

Kind of our main reason for existing.

only if you think there's a greater meaning for our existence.

 

[Anita18]

I think in terms of making a child free from some sort of inherited cancer and other diseases, that's great.

It won't fix societies other glaring problems, such as the problem of bad parenting and all the years of psychological and physical abuse that comes with that.

In terms of changing hair, skin, and eye color, I can see that being a big market in South and East Asia.

A lot of it's hereditary, a lot of it's not. I'm guessing that the simple genetic issues that have expensive medical results will be the first targets, like cystic fibrosis (which is due to one mistake in one gene), and the BRCA mutation cancers. Down's Syndrome is iffy because there's a culture associated with it as well as things like autism, I think. Conditions on a spectrum are much more difficult to control.

Intelligence is certainly another difficult thing to control. Usually, if your parents are smart, you're more likely to be smart, but it's not guaranteed. And a lot of it's nurture as well.

I think a lot of parents already do try to choose the sex of their child. Easy enough to do if you're doing IVF and choosing embryos to implant. And we all know how well it's going if everyone tries to do it, like in China or India.

 

[Charlie Boy]

So, supposedly, in a decade or so, genetic engineering will reach new heights. Many analysts have predicted that people will be able to design their own kids. What do you guys think of this? How will it effect the future and is it ethical?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/14/ethics-of-designer-babies_n_4966189.html

I'd do it. But only to one of my children... Get a whole Danny DeVito/Arnold Schwarzenegger Twins thing going on with my kids. Really pit them against each other. Maybe they'll gang up on me later in life and grow to resent me for playing God.

 

[Llama_Shepherd]

So, supposedly, in a decade or so, genetic engineering will reach new heights. Many analysts have predicted that people will be able to design their own kids. What do you guys think of this? How will it effect the future and is it ethical?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/14/ethics-of-designer-babies_n_4966189.html

We've had a child Moose. A boy child. The first natural birth on Earth in... Months...

 

[Monsieur Xavier]

It will be a brave new world !

 

[GENERAL RAAM582]

So we can literally **** everyone?