When rich people can edit their kids DNA won't that just lock everyone else out and create a new class?
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The plot of the film Gattaca explores this, the idea of what society looks like when there's a class of genetically engineered, "superior" people, vs. the naturally born, "inferior" class.
Not seen Gattaca, but a multi-tier, genetically structured society is the basis of Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, which is well worth a read.
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As someone suffering from a terrible genetic disease that will kill me soon, any amount of preventing these diseases under any circumstances gets a thumbs up from me.
wrote last edited by [email protected]Sadly, the most probable cloning related future would be Gattaca
^(edit typo)
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As someone suffering from a terrible genetic disease that will kill me soon, any amount of preventing these diseases under any circumstances gets a thumbs up from me.
Yeah, I think we should probably allow the technology that will prevent people being born with these diseases first, and then worry about how we're going to deal with the other stuff. This technology isn't going to be possible to hold back indefinitely anyway.
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If rich people go mucking about with their genomes, it's much more likely to backfire in unforeseen ways
This really resonates with me. No person is that smart or has the level of foresight required to make those kinds of changes effectively (at very least in the long term).
From time to time i think of an author i had enjoyed years ago named Robert Anton Wilson. He was a warped sonofabitch, a Yund i can't really claim to fully understand his philosophy, but even just as recently as this past week i found myself thinking about a concept he'd discussed at length: the idea that when one is very young, there are "imprints" impressed on your brain that really determine how you think/act/are. He had written a series about attempting to erase ones imprints and replace them with more advantageous ones.
He had spent just as much time warning about the dangers of attempting to do such a thing though. As much as anybody may like to think they know what's best for themselves or anyone else, it's astounding now frequently we can be wrong due to lack of information, bad judgement, bias, etc.
The genetic decisions one may choose to make for their offspring may have little/no relevance by the time those offspring arrive. I feel like it could be so much worse though. I imagine this is more like tweaking assembly code, but on an even more complex system that we don't even fully understand yet. The most hubristic will convince themselves they know best, but i have to imagine reality will prove them wrong every time.
Gonna have to read those, thanks!
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The plot of the film Gattaca explores this, the idea of what society looks like when there's a class of genetically engineered, "superior" people, vs. the naturally born, "inferior" class.
The Beggars Trilogy by Nancy Kress touches on this as well, but is more focused on the issues with superintelligence rather than just gene alteration, although, because people are vain, the preference for things like hair, skin and symmetry also exist in the story's world. Oh yeah, and the coolest concept from this trilogy is a thing called "sleeplessness", where people can alter there genes to remove the biological need to sleep, allowing people to be able to be productive for as many hours as they desire.
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CRISPR and other tools aren’t science fiction anymore. If the wealthy get there first, what happens to everyone else?
gattaca, and the cloning show with arnold in
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CRISPR and other tools aren’t science fiction anymore. If the wealthy get there first, what happens to everyone else?
Are you just now discovering that eugenics is bad?
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CRISPR and other tools aren’t science fiction anymore. If the wealthy get there first, what happens to everyone else?
It's a new class of DARWIN humans, since such manipulated beings usually have shorter life expectation.
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Are you just now discovering that eugenics is bad?
The tech in itself isn't inherently bad, it could solve a lot of issues for a lot of people. The problem is in equal access.
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H. G. Wells wrote The Time Machine, not Verne.
My bad, dunno how I could confuse my authors
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The tech in itself isn't inherently bad, it could solve a lot of issues for a lot of people. The problem is in equal access.
Which is generally the problem with eugenics. No one is arguing that avoiding downs syndrome is a bad thing.
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CRISPR and other tools aren’t science fiction anymore. If the wealthy get there first, what happens to everyone else?
I think we all end up like the Asgards from SG-1 without the ability to transfer our consciousness to a new body.
Extinct via hubris. Obviously this assumes we do something about runaway global heating.
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We don't have back-alley gene editors yet
️DM me, I'll figure it out.
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Yeah it’s a cool movie but the message of systemic disadvantages don’t matter if you try hard enough is a little questionable at best.
I mean... It was showing the extreme lengths he had to go through, the risks he has to take, just to compete for the same opportunities.
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Red rising
I envy you people who read books. I only read maybe 5 books in my adult life. Never liked reading.
Have you tried different formats? Some like physical books best, others prefer e-readers, some swear by audiobooks...?
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Okay, but the moral of the story was that "superior" people weren't actually superior. They were just racist.
The protagonist outwits and outperforms them all.
In some cases there were absolute superior though. Like the pianist with 12 fingers.
The actual moral of the story was that it's not worth it. Being a bit better at some random shit like swimming, playing piano or piloting a rocket is not good enough to sacrifice the rest.
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gattaca, and the cloning show with arnold in
"Your child will still be yours. Simply the best of you."
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CRISPR and other tools aren’t science fiction anymore. If the wealthy get there first, what happens to everyone else?
This already happens with social factors that affect physical development like access to nutrition and a permanent place to live.
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CRISPR and other tools aren’t science fiction anymore. If the wealthy get there first, what happens to everyone else?
This has been a thing for at least a few years. Luckily last I checked (pre pandemic) it hasn't taken off bc
- Eugenics reminds people of Nazis and is bad
- Genetic diversity might be the only thing that saves us in another pandemic. Kind of like how strains of bananas all go extinct at once if they're genetic clones.
So probably too dangerous to actually take off any time soon. Iirc a Chinese scientist tried it and got sent to jail, seems to be a pretty universal thing
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CRISPR and other tools aren’t science fiction anymore. If the wealthy get there first, what happens to everyone else?
The will find a way to be even more inbred than they already are
