RE: Genetically modified .... humans
September 15, 2017 at 8:05 pm
(This post was last modified: September 15, 2017 at 8:08 pm by Anomalocaris.)
(September 15, 2017 at 7:42 pm)bennyboy Wrote: Weeding out diseases from the gene pool seems good. Thwarting evolution seems highly dangerous, though. In particular, I think certain phenotypes will become so overwhelmingly dominant that if they are selected out due to environmental pressures, it could be a massive hit.
Genetic engineering is hardly thwarting evolution. Humans evolution has been dominated by phenotype selection based on sexual attractiveness of a type that could have no direct survival benefit whatsoever since before we were humans.
(September 15, 2017 at 7:42 pm)bennyboy Wrote: Weeding out diseases from the gene pool seems good. Thwarting evolution seems highly dangerous, though. In particular, I think certain phenotypes will become so overwhelmingly dominant that if they are selected out due to environmental pressures, it could be a massive hit.
The flip side is genes for disease that tend to kill before the victim reaches reproductive age almost certainly convey hidden but substantial benefits strong enough to make the gene survive despite its evident direct effect in reducing the reproductive success of its carrier.
