> I'm a software developer by training with an interest in genetics. I currently run a startup working on multiplex gene editing technology.
This is the author’s own description of his expertise.
I have to look it up since I am not able to validate (by myself) the very strong claim he made in the beginning paragraph. I am comfortable not reading the rest. The claim is:
> Our knowledge has advanced to the point where, if we had a safe and reliable means of modifying genes in embryos, we could literally create superbabies. Children that would live multiple decades longer than their non-engineered peers, have the raw intellectual horsepower to do Nobel prize worthy scientific research, and very rarely suffer from depression or other mental health disorders.
The same fictional universe that gave us Khan, also gave us the characters of Julian Bashir, Una Chin-Riley, and La'an Noonien-Singh all having to deal with a socity that, in universe, had faced this as a history lesson rather than as a fantasy.
Were the Ferengi a warning against American capitalism? The Bajorans a promotion of terrorist tactics to expell imperialist colonisers? The Changelings a warning against… plastic surgery?
This banks on people's selfishness. I above everybody else. My kids will rule others, outlive them, outsmart them. Extremely dangerous mindset, but very common among power brokers and billionaires (and not only). They are not nice people, not a single one of them, doesn't matter if old or new money.
For best of common of common folks (including everybody here), probably the best course of action would be to shoot these people if they ever get a chance to actually deliver real stuff. I know, beyond extreme, but I struggle to find another actually working bulletproof solution.
Anyway it will eventually creep, but not via people from article. It will be disguised as treating all those genetic deficiencies and inborne diseases in babies, any parent can agree that we would do almost anything for our kids and turn a blind eye on many topics otherwise seemed as no-go. In parallel with military, and then its all over society and you have Gattaca.
These children are absolutely cursed from birth, also. Being smart enough to fully see the world around you doesn't help when you're raised by a monster.
This is the author’s own description of his expertise.
I have to look it up since I am not able to validate (by myself) the very strong claim he made in the beginning paragraph. I am comfortable not reading the rest. The claim is:
> Our knowledge has advanced to the point where, if we had a safe and reliable means of modifying genes in embryos, we could literally create superbabies. Children that would live multiple decades longer than their non-engineered peers, have the raw intellectual horsepower to do Nobel prize worthy scientific research, and very rarely suffer from depression or other mental health disorders.