io9.com— How much of science fiction teaches us that people, and especially large crowds of people, tend to make terrible decisions? Cripes, look at how much of history teaches us.
Dec 28, 2008View in Crawl 4
Wait until genetic makeup can be reconfigured on the fly before doing this. That way if a critical vulnerability is discovered it can be changed before the entire species is wiped out.
There are some legitimate uses for such technology. The author is clearly a little overboard in their remarks on the issue.But it is a discussion we need to have.
Mate selection is a form of genetic selection. If you want a blue-eyed baby, it's best to start with a blue-eyed mate. If you don't want a child with a genetic disease, check out your mate's family tree. This is just one more mechanism to do what everyone is already doing. I'm not for or against it in principle, but there are certainly aspects that are worrying. If everyone opts for blue-eyed or with-penis, there are "issues." But those are social problems, not technological ones.
msaleemDec 28, 2008
Well if they look like the apocalypse, yes, definitely a bad idea.
krnldmpDec 29, 2008
Wait until genetic makeup can be reconfigured on the fly before doing this. That way if a critical vulnerability is discovered it can be changed before the entire species is wiped out.
modiikaDec 29, 2008
There are some legitimate uses for such technology. The author is clearly a little overboard in their remarks on the issue.But it is a discussion we need to have.
carpyDec 29, 2008
Mate selection is a form of genetic selection. If you want a blue-eyed baby, it's best to start with a blue-eyed mate. If you don't want a child with a genetic disease, check out your mate's family tree. This is just one more mechanism to do what everyone is already doing. I'm not for or against it in principle, but there are certainly aspects that are worrying. If everyone opts for blue-eyed or with-penis, there are "issues." But those are social problems, not technological ones.
americangeniusDec 30, 2008
when it can be done, Man will do it, no matter what the consequences are