What is Digg?46 Comments
- dazwan, on 10/12/2007, -0/+14We didn't find out the sex of both my children until they were actually born and at the end of the day it didn't make any difference. If you are going to love a child any less because of it's sex, perhaps you shouldn't be having children in the first place.
- Greyarea, on 10/12/2007, -0/+10Damn good idea. You're having a child, not choosing some lifestyle accessory.
- Tiabin, on 10/12/2007, -1/+10Yeah, right now I like the fact that the population is about 50% male and about 50% female... the thought that designer babies could lead to that ratio being screwed up is just a little frightening.
- ThunderIT, on 10/12/2007, -3/+10If we learned anything from Star Trek, is that genetic engineering causes complications, and would eventually lead to 'The Eugenics Wars', where the genetically engineered people think they are better than everyone else, and try to take over the world. It may sound silly, but if you enhance a persons intelligence, strength, etc, you also risk increasing their drive and ambition, and creating a new generation of Nizi's, but ones that try to kill off anyone who is not genetically perfect.
- supanaturalhigh, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7Picking sex has nothing to do with the "best genes"...
- WolfwoodX, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6I would be fscking pissed if my parents told me they "chose" my gender. I would feel like an item instead of a child to them.
- WDot, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4And let's face it, even with the "perfect" designer baby, you're still going to wake up in the middle of the night to feed their crying faces. ;)
- theHM, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4the problem is who decides what's "best". most parents -- like most people in general -- are ignorant about most of the social, medical, psychological etc issues that will be affected as a result of making decisions about their progeny's genetic make-up.
- geekster, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4And it is going to happen in Malaysia too.
http://digg.com/offbeat_news/Law_to_ban_designer_babies - theHM, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6AmericaFirst: this is totally off-topic, but anyway, yes, there are jewish people everywhere, just like there are christians, muslims, atheists etc. so friggin what? do you think all jews meet up once a year to decide how to screw-over the rest of the world?
as for "...Jewish Administration of Hitler's Germany...", you're beginning to sound like one of the many ignorant, unthinking people who're determined to be different from the masses but lack the intelligence to form a coherent thought of your own and so decide to follow one of the ridiculous ill-thought-through conspiracies. - EnricoFermi, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4It's true that this is a slippery slope, but there are some circumstances where I would consider choosing the gender of a baby a good choice. There are some genetic disorders (such as klinefelter's) that are only passed on to boys and not girls and vice versa. The article does specify "non-medical reasons" so cases like this hopefuly won't be outlawed.
- DangerMouse9, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4I want my baby to have a big Levi logo on its forehead, and its torso to be Gucci.
- heffer2k02, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5Well done AmericaFirst - you've successfully portrayed yourself as an ignorant racist. And I don't think commenting on a scenario raised in Star Trek can be argued as believing what we see on TV. I'm fully aware Start Trek is fictional - the interesting thing about Star Trek is that it often raises hypothetical scenarios that we could be faced with in the future. Personally I like Gattacas portrayal of a world with designer babies, and belive that such a world could come about if genetics isn't controlled. People are discriminated against for class, race, color, and religion already so why would genetic make up be any different? Just because it was on TV or in a flim does not immediately make it rubbish. It seems you tried to play the old "You only learn from TV" card, and then ended up making yourself look like a total prat.
- Scottamus, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Sorry, but people are already discriminated against for much stupider reasons than not being genetically superior. There is a lot of FUD about designer babies but the bottom line is that your designer baby will not bench press SUVs, speak 40 languages, make Hawkins go "hmm", look and act just like you, explode peoples heads with a thought, etc.
What they might do is live a healthier, longer life with the reduced risk of degenerative diseases disabilities, and such. If parents get to pick the sex, who gives a crap. One extra girl or boy won't end the world.
The only place I can think of where there might be a problem is in China where everyone wants a boy. But there people already kill or abandon baby girls. Compare the ethics of selecting the sex at conception vs. aborting a fetus in the third trimester or post birth. - dazwan, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4That already happens now. In some areas in the UK they won't tell you what the sex of your child will be because of this.
- Greyarea, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3RandomGuySteve: what in the name of sanity are you talking about?
- jellygraph, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3woohoo! :D thats the best news in a while. take that, evil parents
- heffer2k02, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Because it could lead to a new generation of super babies, and the non super babies will be discriminated against. Like Gattaca.
- Mr.White, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I have a feeling that the population of females would def decrease. I know alot of Men prefer boys so that they can carry on the family name. I'm sure alot of parents do want to "Balance" their family, but I believe that if a couple decided on only one child, I can see more parents choosing the sex to be male. Imagine this being allowed to happen in china.....
- apetrie, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3OMG people like you still exist AmericaFirst? Sad.
- jamesob5, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2They're not designer babies...they're stormtroopers to protect our new galactic empire.
- lebel, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2"Abortion isn't traumatic at all, unless you make a big deal of it. Usually it takes like 5 minutes and painless."
And my bet is:
1) you're a man
2) if you aren't, you never had an abortion.
Sweeping generalization isn't a form of debate. - szelij, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4I agree with the government on this...its a slippery slope and i'm glad we stopped it before it even started. If you really want a male/female child in your family, there's plenty of children who are waiting to be adopted.
- cyssero, on 04/18/2009, -0/+2@szelij
Actually, there are not plenty of children waiting to be adopted. In Australia, there is a 'shortage' so to speak - I imagine the UK to be no different. There are more people seeking to adopt, than there are kids looking for parents. A very good thing I guess though. It is also the reason why people are adopting children overseas and bringing them back home. - Vektuz, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Designer babys will rule. (Literally)
The human race needs a nice boost to its overall IQ, you know it does... - szelij, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Yes in cases of genetics, then well i agree. But for reasons other than medicine then i don't.
Daza, i don't think you're right. Here's a link http://www.baaf.org.uk/info/stats/england.shtml
From the numbers, its certain that there are a substantial number that aren't adopted by foster parents...and are left in the care of the state. - Scottamus, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Congrats AmericaFirst. You're my first blocked user.
- minotaur, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Come to america we have no regulation and soon enought there will be designer babies.
- McLurker, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1One aspect of gender selection that isn't discussed so much is that it may lead to smaller families. Many families have multiple children until they have at least one of each sex. Perhaps gender selection is preferable to having more children than you can support. The problem of slection leading to an imblance in society can be delat wioth via regulation. Restrict gender selection to families who have a child of one sex, and who want to ensure their next child is a member of the opposite sex.
- LesterKing, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3Wow... America First... I bet you're the coolest guy at your office.
/sarcasm - Hubris, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I don't think there are many 'medical reasons' for choosing the sex of your child......there are some diseases that are transmitted on the Y chromosome that could be avoided by guaranteeing a female baby...but that's a bit of a stretch.
It's not nearly as likely a 'medical' issue as it could be in determining whether an abortion is warranted. If the mother will be hurt by carrying a baby to term, then the abortion could be considered medically-necessary. How can you claim that it's medically-necessary to make sure a baby is a girl? - astroid0, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I know 5 women who had abortions. It wasn't a big deal at all, except for one. The one who it was a big deal for actually wanted the kid, but felt she wasn't in a position to raise it (she was 18), and couldn't deal with the trauma of giving birth and giving it up. Everyone else was A-O-K.
- Tabris, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2What a badass. Just how Jewish are each one of those? Are you including people who are lke 10% Jewish? Or are they all purebloods? Some 50%? Plenty of them may be like 1% Jewish and you could be like omgt3hJewZ
How about you wake up. :) - dannylewis, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1My BIO 100 teacher told me about an interesting method to choose the sex of a child that would be legal as it has to do with the timing of intercourse to ovulation: http://fire-box.info/2006/02/bio_100_how_to_increase_a_couples_chances_of_havin.html
- theHM, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2yeah, i was with you until the "Jewish controlled media" part. i somehow doubt that ThunderIT was being serious, though. or at least i hope not.
- jellygraph, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1the "wrongness" about it is that, had your parents had the option, you probably wouldn't have been born. this is not to be mean, its probably true. what makes "good genes" is far too much a complicated subject for parents to know any better...
- jellygraph, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2oh, really? and I suppose thats what they already do, right? _dolt_
- theHM, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2i doubt that many women would be willing to do that; they'd have to *really* want their child to be of a particular gender to go through the often traumatic experience of an abortion.
dazwan: really? that seems a bit exaggerated; have a source? - Dracker, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Looks like someone's been watching Gattaca.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gattaca - JoeyDeacon, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1I for one wlecome our new designer baby overlords.
- killerz298, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I have no issue in general with using science to make our species faster, smarter, healthier, etc... I am not one of those "we shouldn't play god" people. However, the problem I see with genetically altering fetus's genes is that the procedure will most likely be expensive and out of the reach of most people. What will happen then is only those with enough money will be able to afford this procedure and as a result their children will be far more superior/desirable than those who do not have the money thus increasing the problem exponentially with each generation. Those with less money have less opportunities for advancment in life as it is and this would completely cut off any chance of them ever bettering their conditions. The rich will become richer and the poor will become extinct.
When we have the ability to alter genes so that our children are smarter, and faster, and healthier there will be no way to prevent the rich from doing so. They will always be able to find a way, legal or not, so we are going to have to face this situation eventually. Unfortunately looking at the situation realistically, there is no way to stop it (just think about all the other things governments try to prevent such as abortions, drugs, etc...). I don't know what can be done about it after the fact however, as you can't really punish the resulting children for the actions of their parents (the only thing you can do is restrict them from joining starfleet). - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -3/+2Abortion isn't traumatic at all, unless you make a big deal of it. Usually it takes like 5 minutes and painless.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -3/+1jelly@ That is what women do in places where they don't value human life like India and China but they prefer a boy, you ignorant POS.
- RandomGuySteve, on 10/12/2007, -4/+1There's plenty of people who shouldn't be having babies. This wont stop them, they'll just make up some medical excuse.
- Chant, on 10/12/2007, -10/+3What exactly is wrong with giving your child the best genes possible?
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -8/+2Women will just get abortions until they have a child with the gender they want.
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