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Originally posted by BeBro
Or what if you could make each one of your eyes half-blue, half-brown
Or what if you could make each one of your eyes half-blue, half-brown
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Have you seen my picture?12-17-10 Mohamed Bouazizi NEVER FORGET
Stadtluft Macht Frei
Killing it is the new killing it
Ultima Ratio Regum -
It's labour intensive. If they get retrovirals working right then it should be a matter of injecting somebody with a syringe.Originally posted by DanS
It would depend on the method. In vitro fertilization is still expensive, f.e.12-17-10 Mohamed Bouazizi NEVER FORGET
Stadtluft Macht Frei
Killing it is the new killing it
Ultima Ratio RegumComment
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Yeh, but of course right now it makes people die for some reason.Originally posted by KrazyHorse
If they get retrovirals working right then it should be a matter of injecting somebody with a syringe.
Anyway, if we get retrovirals working right, even adults could genetically engineer themselves.I came upon a barroom full of bad Salon pictures in which men with hats on the backs of their heads were wolfing food from a counter. It was the institution of the "free lunch" I had struck. You paid for a drink and got as much as you wanted to eat. For something less than a rupee a day a man can feed himself sumptuously in San Francisco, even though he be a bankrupt. Remember this if ever you are stranded in these parts. ~ Rudyard Kipling, 1891Comment
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That's true, and if given the option I would definitely accept it...12-17-10 Mohamed Bouazizi NEVER FORGET
Stadtluft Macht Frei
Killing it is the new killing it
Ultima Ratio RegumComment
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It probably wouldn't have much effect, except maybe to help with cancer.
(Then again, it might increase the risk of cancer too.)Comment
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So would I, within reason. More like an investment in myself. So I guess it comes down to whether or not it is ethical to make these decisions for a child.I came upon a barroom full of bad Salon pictures in which men with hats on the backs of their heads were wolfing food from a counter. It was the institution of the "free lunch" I had struck. You paid for a drink and got as much as you wanted to eat. For something less than a rupee a day a man can feed himself sumptuously in San Francisco, even though he be a bankrupt. Remember this if ever you are stranded in these parts. ~ Rudyard Kipling, 1891Comment
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This concept is just wrong. Unless we're talking prehensile tails...
Apolyton's Grim Reaper 2008, 2010 & 2011
RIP lest we forget... SG (2) and LaFayette -- Civ2 Succession Games Brothers-in-ArmsComment
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It's from a worker's movement in england during 1812-1814 (the Luddite Revolution) where weavers attacked and destroyed textile manufactories. They where upset with having their lively hood taken over by factories where the workers are locked inside for 16 hour days and not even paid a living wage. The products manufactured where of vastly inferior quality to their hand made textiles, but cheaply and abundantly made so as to destroy the value of their trade.Originally posted by Barnabas
Whats the meaning of luddite?Rethink Refuse Reduce Reuse
Do It OurselvesComment
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no i would not.Comment
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Genetic Engineering already exists in the form of selective abortion. It's possible today to screen your future child for traits and abort them if they have somethign you don't want. It can be used to screen for diseases, but the most popular use of this procedure is to abort female children.
I remember an interview with a doctor who is involved in this on the CBC radio. He was once a major supporter of it, advocating it's use to screen for debilitating diseases. But after practicing this for a number of years and realising the main use of it was to screen for things like gender, he became a major critic of the procedure.Rethink Refuse Reduce Reuse
Do It OurselvesComment
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There is a science fiction story about a race of aliens who developed a great civilisation. They also genetically engineered themselves. What they didn't realise was that the genetic code is so tremendously complex that the effects of a small piece of engineering cannot be predicted, nor the effects of mixing.
They all died out, because all original genetic matter had been lost, and after a few generations, the engineering backfired.
The moral of that tale is that we should not try to change ourselves in drastic ways when we don't know the science behind it in sufficient detail.
At this point in time, we don't really have any clue as to what the effects of GE will be. Until they have been tested for many, many generations, I'm not willing to dabble in something so dangerous. The genetic code is a complex thing, and like the internal forces in a buckyball, not really understood, even now. Let's first work out all the kinks first, and then, when it is reduced to near-mathematical certainty, we can try out stuff.Comment
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Dunno if that's comparable, but I thought top class medical treatment gets rather more expensive?Originally posted by BlackCat
Any reason why such a treatment will be expensive when discovered ? Yeah, first generation will probably, but after that ?
At least that's my impression from the debates over health care here in Ger (though admittedly, part of the costs result from the situation that there are simply more and older people).....BlahComment
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Genes only mean potential. They don't necessarily mean that you are going to reach that potential. This is what Gattaca showed. The 'normal' kid who has reached his full potential was better than the complacent 'designer' kid.Originally posted by BeBro
This is what I have a general problem with. I don't consider myself a technophobic person, but when I look at history I hardly see technology alone solving the big problems of humanity. Yes, technology makes our lives easier, gives me more opportunities etc, but it IMO it does so only in a certain environment which is not purely defined by technological progress.
Now when you say it would at least help the rich, yeah, but in a way it still affects the rest, since then it would cement a divide between those who can get these advantages and those who can't, or at least not "the full version" of it. Ok, we have that already to some extent, rich people obviously enjoy a lot of things poor people can't and our societies aren't breaking down.
I just think serious genetic engineering (more than fighting disease or genetic defects) on the human being itself is such a fundamental change that I really consider it a problem to modern liberal democracy which is IMO about more opportunities for more people, not just a small elite. IMO this sort of GE is the best way to create some new kind of aristocracy, which has its advantages not because of own achievements or hard work, but purely due to genetic improvement.
There is no danger of the rich countries becoming full of of superhumans while the poor countries remain full of normal (sick, stupid, fat etc.) people.Quendelie axan!Comment
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I'm not sure that you can make that comparison. Experimental treatment, rare diseases and new medics, yes they are expensive, but routine treatments gets cheaper. Take heart operations/transplants - once they were both dangerous and costly, but now they are pretty cheap, secure and don't demand the facilities of a research hospital.Originally posted by BeBro
Dunno if that's comparable, but I thought top class medical treatment gets rather more expensive?
At least that's my impression from the debates over health care here in Ger (though admittedly, part of the costs result from the situation that there are simply more and older people).....
GE is a relatively simple thing that is done with ordinary chemistry. The main problem is that the precision isn't good enough and that the knowledge of the genes isn't fully understood.With or without religion, you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion.
Steven WeinbergComment
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