Super Human gene splicing program

[Onkel Neal]

Science panel okays one day editing human embryos
http://www.theverge.com/2017/2/14/14...babies-science


Question: is it ok to use technology to take and modify human genetic code to make a designer baby? As long as it is you and your spouse's decision, and your offspring, it should be ok, right?

[Oberon]

Tricky, on a base level, so long as the two parents are consenting then there's no problem. The problems start with the consequences, depending obviously on the kinds of modifications that have been made. As advances continue you are going to get an entirely new species of human, many people call this 'Homo Superior' and this new species will eventually dominate us, and Homo Sapiens itself may well die out over the next millennia.
That's why there's so many rules and regulations and ethical dilemmas on this subject, and we're going to face a very similar scenario when it comes to Artificial Intelligence and bio-mechanical enhancement over the next couple of generations. I think one way or another we are in the closing days of Homo Sapiens as a species, unless an event happens which reduces our numbers and technological levels back several generations (ie asteroid impact, nuclear exchange, epidemic, etc).
I don't think there's any way to stop this from happening, and to be honest, it's questionable whether it should be stopped, this can be looked upon as just another part of the progression that started with the common ancestor many thousands of years ago and lead to evolutionary offshoots like the Neanderthal which eventually disappeared to leave us. Our last major competitor was the Neanderthal, and we helped to get rid of them and Superior will no doubt help to get rid of us.
After that...who can say. Some level of technological and biological convergence? A transcendence beyond physical form? That's all real sci-fi stuff...but then again, so was a lot of the stuff around us right now.

[August]

Might as well be ok because someones gonna do it eventually and it will really magnify their advantage if they're the only ones doing it.

[Oberon]

Originally Posted by August

Might as well be ok because someones gonna do it eventually and it will really magnify their advantage if they're the only ones doing it.

Absolutely, it's like nuclear physics, you can't put the genie back in the bottle.
I reckon the PRC might wind up being one of the first, they've got less regulations on it, so if anyone is going to make the first step it'll be them.
Of course, when I was making my ramble above, I did forget to factor in one thing...nations. If genetic enhancement begins giving people of a certain nation advantages over another, it may well spark a genetic arms race. I mean, imagine if in a years time someone in the PRC made a breakthrough that enhanced the intelligence of people. The state would immediately classify it, and only allow it to the 'right' kind of people, which in a generation would give them an intellectual edge over every other nation, so the US would have to investigate it and then release it somehow to the public and...well the domino effect could be crazy.
Sooner or later I could foresee it being outlawed, but it'd just go underground.
It's hard to say, it really is, there's going to be a lot of fear-mongering about it, and some of it will really be justified.
Although by this point you will both be dead, and I will be ready for being made into Soylent Green.

[Reece]

I should've been in that program!!

[ikalugin]

Should be fine as far as it does not harm the future child. Ie introducing modifications that increase likelyhood of ilness should be criminal.