Long a staple of science fiction, the idea of creating designer babies may soon come to fruition thanks to Genomic Prediction, a New Jersey based company promising to unveil a screening test capable of rooting out several illnesses and less desirable traits.
M.I.T. Technology Review adds: “Handed report cards on a batch of frozen embryos, parents can use the test results to try to choose the healthiest ones. The grades include risk estimates for diabetes, heart attacks, and five types of cancer. According to flyers distributed by the company, it will also warn clients about any embryo predicted to become a person who is among the shortest 2% of the population, or who is in the lowest 2% in intelligence.”
The last part is going to be worrisome to ethicists fearful of eugenic campaigns that could target certain features or groups of people. If the technology is ever going to become prevalent it’s going to have to clear moral, ethical, and legal hurdles along those lines. And while I see their point I can’t help but wonder if Genomic Prediction is on the right track. Instead of spending millions of dollars trying to cure cancer we could decrease the likelihood that it ever occurs in the first place. Medical costs would be reduced. Lifespans lengthened. The dream of every parent – to ensure that their child has a healthy and happy life – kept intact. It’s a win-win situation all around. Or is it?
Well, that’s where things get interesting. While we can all agree that rooting out illness is a good thing, editing for desirable traits like intelligence blurs the moral lines, starting us down a slippery slope where we play God, take control over evolutionary forces that we don’t fully understand, and wind up creating an alternate species of genetically enhanced people who declare war on those they deem to be inferior. Far-fetched? Perhaps. Beyond the realm of possibility? Definitely not.
Personally, I feel like it’s worth the risk. Any opportunity that we have to push the envelope, to develop new technologies, to surpass our natural limits – is an opportunity well worth taking IMO. Just as it was with Stem Cell research. Just as it’s going to be with AI going forward. Holding ourselves back out of fear of the unknown is just going to hold us back in the long run. Instead we should be cognizant of the risks and plan accordingly around them. Put in safeguards to ensure that this new technology develops in lock step with our moral guidelines. That way we can ensure that we gain the advantages that the technology affords us without running into any of the backlash that often accompanies breakthrough technologies.
Is Genomic Prediction the Greatest Idea Ever?
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