Bruce Sterling's novel, Distraction, had a protagonist who was the product of early genetic editing for optimization, and spent his life at the mercy of random metabolic disturbances. The ethics...
Bruce Sterling's novel, Distraction, had a protagonist who was the product of early genetic editing for optimization, and spent his life at the mercy of random metabolic disturbances.
The ethics of intentionally modifying genes, even against otherwise fatal or crippling outcomes, need very careful consideration. It's intervention to change fundamental biology of the human species in ways we don't fully understand, with concomitant unknown risks.
There are going to be people who sustain essentially permanent genetic damage from well-intentioned shotgun DNA interventions - every technology has early failures. In the case of gene editing, it may take decades for the failures to be fully manifest as cancers, immune disturbances, infertility, early senescence, or other unpleasant results.
Even as the carrier of a couple of known fatal genetic defects, I wouldn't consider using current technologies to edit them, in the event that my progeny might experience years of completely random suffering.
Bruce Sterling's novel, Distraction, had a protagonist who was the product of early genetic editing for optimization, and spent his life at the mercy of random metabolic disturbances.
The ethics of intentionally modifying genes, even against otherwise fatal or crippling outcomes, need very careful consideration. It's intervention to change fundamental biology of the human species in ways we don't fully understand, with concomitant unknown risks.
There are going to be people who sustain essentially permanent genetic damage from well-intentioned shotgun DNA interventions - every technology has early failures. In the case of gene editing, it may take decades for the failures to be fully manifest as cancers, immune disturbances, infertility, early senescence, or other unpleasant results.
Even as the carrier of a couple of known fatal genetic defects, I wouldn't consider using current technologies to edit them, in the event that my progeny might experience years of completely random suffering.
Well, high frequency eletromagnetic waves (x-ray and gamma rays) can change the dna if exposing it for enough time :)