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Eugenics/Designer-babies... is the concept really that bad?
August 5, 2017 at 5:14 am
At work today, the topic of gene editing to alter fetuses came up, and most of my colleagues seemed to be strictly against that, but I really don't understand why. Sure if an error goes out into the population unchecked, it can lead to totally unpredictable consequences, but if I am not mistaken, evolution does that all the time already, at least if we take control of the process ourselves we might have a chance of fixing things before things get out of hand. Also, evolution is damn slow and unpredictable and hence unreliable for our survival. I mean, let's say our blue planet is hit by another large space rock, can we really say we will be able to evolve and adapt in time to survive the planet-wide changes? On the other hand, if we by then have properly mastered our genetics, we can easily engineer our offsprings to survive the disaster. Moreover, if we can engineer ourselves to survive in space, then I don't see any reason not to try it, we will be able to colonize other planets easily and ensure our survival. Also, I know that those kinds of engineering capabilities are decades, if not centuries away, but if we don't take some tiny risks and start studying now, how can we ever expect to get there?
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RE: Eugenics/Designer-babies... is the concept really that bad?
August 5, 2017 at 8:59 am
An 'edited' genome might someday provide us with a human derived, but non-sentient form ideally suited to a high reproductive rate, ability for rapid weight gain and great taste.
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RE: Eugenics/Designer-babies... is the concept really that bad?
August 5, 2017 at 9:04 am
People are going right to the evil possibilities. The fact that it's possible to edit out disease-causing genes is AMAZING.
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RE: Eugenics/Designer-babies... is the concept really that bad?
August 5, 2017 at 9:07 am
I haven't had breakfast yet and I'm hungry.
And I didn't propose anything with extra orifices . . . .
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RE: Eugenics/Designer-babies... is the concept really that bad?
August 5, 2017 at 9:31 am
(This post was last modified: August 5, 2017 at 9:32 am by ErGingerbreadMandude.)
Sounds scary 
I'm against the whole gene engineering thing...it costs money, right? So rich corporate lords will be involved..we all know when rich corporate lords are involved things are bound to get shady.. Best quality premium babies cost 10 million.. So what about the poor people that can't afford it?.. Poor people will get shitty babies and rich folks get better babies? Think about the advertisements you'll see on TV (creepy) .. I'm against kind of commercializing human life like that..especially when money is involved..call me crazy but corporate lords aren't exactly know for their honesty..
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RE: Eugenics/Designer-babies... is the concept really that bad?
August 5, 2017 at 9:32 am
(August 5, 2017 at 9:31 am)pool the matey Wrote: Sounds scary
I'm against the whole gene engineering thing...it costs money, right? So rich corporate lords will be involved..we all know when rich corporate lords are involved things are bound to get shady.. Best quality premium babies cost 10 million.. Think about the advertisements you'll see on TV.. I'm against kind of commercializing human life like that..especially when money is involved..call me crazy but corporate lords aren't exactly know for their honesty..
Uninformed, fear-based and reactionary. That's the New America. Yeyyy. Facts no longer matter.
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RE: Eugenics/Designer-babies... is the concept really that bad?
August 5, 2017 at 9:38 am
(This post was last modified: August 5, 2017 at 9:39 am by ErGingerbreadMandude.)
Not against removing disease causing genes but actually engineering babies is pushing it.. I would rather leave things to nature than place my bets on the interests of some corporate lord behind the scenes plotting how to get more money out of the business.. Commercializing human life is just a big no
(proud non-American btw lol)
I just don't want to see the whole process of having a baby like getting a new phone
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RE: Eugenics/Designer-babies... is the concept really that bad?
August 5, 2017 at 9:39 am
(This post was last modified: August 5, 2017 at 9:41 am by The Grand Nudger.)
The concept itself, probably not, but human application of that concept is unlikely to reach the lofty precipe it claims for itself. Even if all it;s used for is editing out hereditary infirmities or enhancing desirable traits - that will be primarily available to the wealthy, creating a two class system more thorough and complete in it;s supremacy than the disparity between the rich and the poor could ever be.
It would no longer be the haves and the have nots, but the engineered....and the rest of us. It wouldn't even have to be an issue of malicious segregation. As an employer, why would I hire a non-engineered human being? As a human being...why would I breed with one?
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RE: Eugenics/Designer-babies... is the concept really that bad?
August 5, 2017 at 9:55 am
The main problem with old-style eugenics is that it embraced coercion: sterilization of the 'unfit', that sort of thing. It had other problems, but that is what made it evil.
I'm not anti-Christian. I'm anti-stupid.
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RE: Eugenics/Designer-babies... is the concept really that bad?
August 5, 2017 at 10:32 am
(August 5, 2017 at 9:38 am)pool the matey Wrote: Not against removing disease causing genes but actually engineering babies is pushing it.. I would rather leave things to nature than place my bets on the interests of some corporate lord behind the scenes plotting how to get more money out of the business.. Commercializing human life is just a big no
(proud non-American btw lol)
I just don't want to see the whole process of having a baby like getting a new phone
What makes you think this will be the case?
If The Flintstones have taught us anything, it's that pelicans can be used to mix cement.
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