Re:Outrage Over Human Gene Editing Will Fade Fast
by newuser6969 on Tuesday November 27, 2018 @09:52PM
(#18548898)
Do you mind summarizing the hypothesis for the person who doesn't have time at the moment to read that (me).
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Re:Outrage Over Human Gene Editing Will Fade Fast
by ericdykstra on Tuesday November 27, 2018 @10:16PM
(#18549018)
It's the conclusion of Dawkins' The Selfish Gene and The Extended Phenotype.
The Revolutionary Phenotype describes the transition of life from protein self-replicator (no known current ancestors), to protein-RNA tangos (no known current ancestors), to RNA replicators (current RNA viruses), to RNA-DNA tango (RNA-DNA reverse transcribing viruses), to DNA replicator (biological life).
The next revolutionary phenotype (let's call it RT) would be one that replaces DNA, first via a DNA-RT tango (machines editing our DNA) and eventually with RT (the machines) replacing DNA completely.
The video I linked above goes over the consequences of this. The book will describe it in more detail, and is slated to be released next month.