Re:Chinese scientist who edited twin babies' genes jailed fo...
by JumpCrisscross on Monday December 30, 2019 @12:45PM
(#21915183)
> Given China’s almost unique state capacity to think long term
Beijing is presently a dictatorship. It is making the classic short-term decisions associated with placing personal political survival over national imperatives. (It made terrific capital investments between Xiaoping and Jintao. But the incentives changed with Xi for life.)
What makes China uniquely positioned with respect to human genetic engineering is its willingness to treat its population as test subjects. That’s a huge advantage, albeit one with the predictable downsides.
Beijing is presently a dictatorship. It is making the classic short-term decisions associated with placing personal political survival over national imperatives. (It made terrific capital investments between Xiaoping and Jintao. But the incentives changed with Xi for life.)
What makes China uniquely positioned with respect to human genetic engineering is its willingness to treat its population as test subjects. That’s a huge advantage, albeit one with the predictable downsides.