Scientists Edit a Dangerous Mutation in Human Embryos

Re:Scientists Edit a Dangerous Mutation in Human Embryos by Moshe_Silnorin on Wednesday August 02, 2017 @03:16PM (#14913696)

It's not moral standards we have, it is ridiculously parochial notions of purity and natural-is-better attitudes. If we fail to free our children from stupidity and ill health, we are the moral imbeciles. If Asian nations increase health, IQ, and happiness through genetic selection and engineering, this will speak of higher moral sophistication. We have right-wing religious conservatives on one side and on the left a sort of Lysenkoism that pertains to all mental traits. I fear this will prevent us from implementing this technology.

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Re:Scientists Edit a Dangerous Mutation in Human Embryos by seanp2k2 on Wednesday August 02, 2017 @03:31PM (#14913821)

If you outlaw genetic engineering, only outlaws will be genetically engineered. Then they'll take over the world.

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Re:Scientists Edit a Dangerous Mutation in Human Embryos by scierama on Wednesday August 02, 2017 @04:14PM (#14914179)

That's a paradox since a genetically improved species would abhor violence. They would have no ability to take over the world. They would become subservient like the Eloi in The Time Machine.

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Re:Scientists Edit a Dangerous Mutation in Human Embryos by defen on Wednesday August 02, 2017 @04:48PM (#14914483)

> a genetically improved species would abhor violence.

On the other hand, humans are the apex predator of the known universe, the output of 4.5 billion years of evolution driven by relentless, unceasing violence. It's not clear that a genetically improved species would abhor violence.

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Re:Scientists Edit a Dangerous Mutation in Human Embryos by toomuchtodo on Wednesday August 02, 2017 @04:35PM (#14914342)

> That's a paradox since a genetically improved species would abhor violence.

Bold claim.

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Re:Scientists Edit a Dangerous Mutation in Human Embryos by brianpgordon on Wednesday August 02, 2017 @07:54PM (#14915777)

I share some of your frustration about the irrational preference for "natural" things. Too often these attitudes result in the rejection of critical advances like GMOs and vaccines.

But I also have to preach some caution about meddling with human genetics. At this point we have what I think you can agree is a relatively poor understanding of the potential consequences of splicing DNA in a human zygote. Crashing headlong into an age of careless modifications could be disastrous for the survival of the species.

I just finished reading the Firefall duology by Peter Watts (http://rifters.com/) and one of the themes in the second book is that "baseline" humans are in some ways hardier than modified transhumans. Natural selection has fixed a lot of the bugs in us baselines over millions of years, and that's a hard-won legacy that we shouldn't be too quick to discard for barely-understood alterations.

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