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Eugenics 2.0: We're at the Dawn of Choosing Embryos by Health, Height, and More

Kobra_Zer0

Kobra_Zer0

Member
Oct 27, 2017
298
You can't stop progress, designer babies will eventually be the norm and become commonplace. Damn, someday every possible birth defect could be eliminated altogether, maybe even mental defects, now that would be some mind blowing sci-fi stuff. Of course we will all be dead by then so i wouldn't worry too much.



Squarehard said:
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This movie is amazing and will only continue to be more prescient as time goes on, incredible.
 
MBeanie

MBeanie

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,875
I'm cool with genetic engeneering away birth defects & help us resist diseases & cancers.

Somehow though, I feel like people are going to do wholly unnecessary things like eliminate traits such as dark skin. Because being black is extremely stigmatized.
 

Deleted member 888

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
14,361
What will come first, fully engineered humans, or AI sex robots that end up more intelligent than us and start Judgement Day?

Thankfully, none of us will be alive to find out.

I can get on board with messing around with a fetus if it can mean stopping down syndrome/other birth defects and ailments, but a designer baby catalog that acts like a Fallout character generation prompt? Nah. Nothing to do with religion/God, I'm an atheist, I just think allowing some of evolution to tick along naturally and humans to be diverse is the right ethical choice.

Deus Ex like modifications, as in, replacement limbs, or even replacement organs that are fully man-made/mechanical? Sure. I can support that as well. Although, it would potentially lead to people wanting superpowered limbs for personal advantage/gain. Or designer body organs for the rich, even if you don't need them.

So yeah, just be glad we'll all be dead, and all we're facing is some decent AI sex robots in our time (probably all, depends on how fast some of the AI work progresses over the next 30~50 years).
 
Rigby

Rigby

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
693
So we're going full Gattaca. Thankfully we're not going to be around to see this happening.
 
Rum Diet

Rum Diet

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
320
Everyone here can argue about this until they're blue in the face, if you're in the states you can possibly even curb this from happening, but China won't. So either we do it or we get utterly dominated by them. That's how i see it.
 
Thrill_house

Thrill_house

Member
Oct 27, 2017
10,615
Gattaca. I'm totally against this idea. I'm all for stamping out cancer, genetic disorders and other issues like that but anything more and you start creating a more society of wealthy people with inherited traits that common people will never attain (other than cross generational weath that is). You'll make a subset of humanity "masters" while everyone else are inferior slaves by design.
 
Abu

Abu

Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,019
😏
So you're telling me that there may be a chance for me to genetically engineer my children into real life X men?
 
Bronx-Man

Bronx-Man

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
15,351
Can't wait for the top 1% to keep us under the boot of their genetically bred Ubermensches.
 
Septimus Prime

Septimus Prime

EA
Verified
Oct 25, 2017
8,500
"Okay, design time. Let's see...I want a male, white, 6' 2", uhm...can you make his eyes open a portal to the Punch dimension?, high IQ, good athleticism..."
 
Marauder Shields

Marauder Shields

Member
Oct 27, 2017
212
Being able to ensure that your baby has superior genes is something that any mother would want. This is going to be amazing once it comes out.

If it does just let you choose from anything, I'd imagine we won't be seeing too many darker skin people in the future since most cultures seem to skew against darker complexions.
 
Kuroyume

Kuroyume

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
3,910
Disgusting. This is what happens when you remove God from man.

Cant even stand that people are so flippant about it. Oh it's gonna happen anyway, we can't do anything about. No big deal.
 
Chuck Noblet

Chuck Noblet

Member
Oct 27, 2017
2,090
I wonder how society will be different when this becomes common place. Would mixed race or poc couples get blow back for choosing a white baby? A similar thing can happen now with adoption, but the societal implications with changing all or most births. Man.
 
Beartruck

Beartruck

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
4,939
Dunban said:
This Is an informative read:

http://www.gwern.net/Embryo-selection
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The top of the article states that while the goal Is an IQ point increase of 9 or 10 (which is is only explainable through their method a minority of the time), actual attempts only increased IQ by .39 to .68 points or something like that(assuming Im reading that right), which is borderline statistical noise. I dont doubt their ability to measure physical efficacy of an embryo, but it seems we are still a ways off from any intelligence based modification I would call truly significant.

Also, as someone already pointed out, IQ means very little. I doubt the rich will use this and become super Intelligent gods over us. I live near one of the richest areas in the country. Their children go to the best schools. They are mostly entitled morons who have mommy and daddy fix everything for them, because why work hard and be intelligent and proficient in your interests when a trust fund will take care of your every need?

However, I can see every olympic athlete in the future being from the richest families in the world.
 
CrunchyFrog

CrunchyFrog

Member
Oct 28, 2017
2,457
Gross, for many reasons already explored in various literature on the subject. Furthermore, anyone claiming to have definitive quantitative measurements for "IQ" based on genetics alone is a damned dirty liar, not only because we're nowhere near that level of understanding of the human brain but because it laughably ignores the demonstrable effects of environment on its development. On top of all this homogenizing the gene pool around some supposed ideal human being leaves our species more susceptible to future biological threats as has been pointed out by others in this thread (think black plague was bad?).If we can root out clearly defined genetic abnormalities like sickle cell, cancer risk, chromosomal disease, etc., absolutely let's do that.
 

Digitalcheetah

Member
Oct 28, 2017
76
Eugenics has a history of being used by bigots, racists, and fascists and it should be left in the past. For example, in the late 19th century the Eugenics Records office was established and was used as a way of undermining minority groups. Because to them, every minority was bad in some way (For example, they believed that Hispanics were lazy). They also believed that these were traits that you could just get rid of through the practice of eugenics. This is scientifically not true, and let's be real they just didn't like minorities. This informed a lot of the policy-making and test making on Ellis Island. From there similar boards rose across a lot of different states in America, and it allowed men to sterilize their wives or daughters on the grounds of "We must stop the trait of promiscuity from spreading." In some cases, women (especially those of color) would be sterilized during medical procedures and had no idea that it had happened. I also shouldnt have to point it out because its so very obvious but Hitler was in favor of Eugenics because he wanted to have soley or mostly Ayran qualitiess in Germany.

Some people mention using Eugenics as a way to get rid of some diseases, and thats not a bad idea, but there are other better ways. We can do this through the use of stem cell research and application. We can do this through optogenetics, and through CRISPER 9.
 
take_marsh

take_marsh

Member
Oct 27, 2017
7,267
Thrill_house said:
Gattaca. I'm totally against this idea. I'm all for stamping out cancer, genetic disorders and other issues like that but anything more and you start creating a more society of wealthy people with inherited traits that common people will never attain (other than cross generational weath that is). You'll make a subset of humanity "masters" while everyone else are inferior slaves by design.
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How I feel, pretty much. Only the wealthy would be given access to such services, which only creates more inequality.
 
Pikachu

Pikachu

Traded his Bone Marrow for Pizza
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
6,402
13 year olds are already six inches taller than me, I don't need it to be even worse.
 
Dice

Dice

Member
Oct 25, 2017
22,304
Canada
CloudWolf said:
Eugenics can only lead to bad things.
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That transitional period would suck... but I dunno, as a clever race of people isn't it sort of our responsibility and evolutionary desire to survive and thrive (even if through embryo eugenics)? (I'm strictly talking about this, not about therein socio-economic issues that might underlie this idea).
 

Deleted member 15326

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
4,219
Dice said:
That transitional period would suck... but I dunno, as a clever race of people isn't it sort of our responsibility and evolutionary desire to survive and thrive (even if through embryo eugenics)? (I'm strictly talking about this, not about therein socio-economic issues that might underlie this idea).
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Clever race of people?
 
Gabbo

Gabbo

Member
Oct 25, 2017
7,567
Dice said:
That transitional period would suck... but I dunno, as a clever race of people isn't it sort of our responsibility and evolutionary desire to survive and thrive (even if through embryo eugenics)? (I'm strictly talking about this, not about therein socio-economic issues that might underlie this idea).
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This pre-suppose that everyone has equal access to this, because without that, the entire idea falls apart and becomes Brave New World but with actual childbirth. Yes we need to try and survive and thrive, but without so many ironclad safeguards in place, this is way too dangerous beyond a few changes - disease resistance/elimination for instance.

The thread about Iceland nearly eliminating down syndrome for instance due to genetic screening was a shit show and that's not even changing anything in the embryo.
 
guek

guek

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
3,177
I was born too soon...

tbh though, I don't expect something like this to begin in earnest for another 20yrs at the earliest.
 
Palas

Palas

Member
Oct 29, 2017
1,778
I'm all for it and sad I won't be a genetic engineered baby. Anything that leads us to transhumanism is a-ok in my book.
 
Wolfgav

Wolfgav

Member
Oct 27, 2017
472
Glass City.
I can see why some people would like this option but why mess with nature? This could lead to some issues down the line we can't even fathom.
 
Orioto

Orioto

Member
Oct 26, 2017
4,716
Paris
There is no future where everyone is smarter with better health etc.. It's going to be the rich country and the rich people who have smarter kids with blue eyes and blond hait. How could that end bad right ?
 
Yunyo

Yunyo

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,824
The end result of such a thing would be a monumental societal change that it likely could not be fully comprehended by us. Yet, it's an unstoppable change that will be heralded sooner or later by those who have less moral care for the potential consequences.
 
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