Quote:
Originally Posted by Resurrection
I wish eugenics wasn't so closely associated with evils of the past, because it's an exciting future. When I talk about gene therapy and manipulation of the embryonic cells I'm talking about:
-eliminating physical disorders like babies born with no hands or malformed toes/fingers
-screening andremoving down syndrome and other crippling mental health problems that will cause a child to have terrible quality of life for their whole adulthood
-that would include a test for gender identity possibly, and correcting it
What I am not suggesting is designer babies with all blonde hair blue eyes and IQ's of 150. Frankly I don't know how we would prevent that in the distant future as the science will be there. We dont get to choose for science not to figure this out it's already happening. We will have to be judicial about its use. But lets not pretend we wont be wiping out mental and physical defects in 50 years .. its coming and it will be a huge step forward for humanity. The ethical and morality debates will be around how far we will go, not if we do it.
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I'm not wading into this argument, but there are many people with Down's who don't have a terrible quality of life, just FYI. Picking and choosing what "defects" you "cure" while an embryo is developing WILL lead to designer babies because your definition of what is desirable/non-desirable is different that mine, your neighbor's, and everyone else.