GFEK

Embryo selection, gene editing, and the human quest for eternal life

We live in, probably the most significant, era in human history currently. Where we have the options to change nature down to the smallest detail. How do we use these powers?

Gene editing has been on the horizon for long, with crops and animals being selectively bred for millennia. This selective breeding is not really the same as the technologies that are evolving currently, however. Selective breeding is a way of steering mother nature in a direction that we want her to go. Letting the sheep with the softest wool  breed and not the sheep with coarse wool. This will, over time, enable us to have more and more sheep with softer wool.

Gene editing is a completely different beast. It changes mother nature’s work immediately and without concern for letting time have its course.

Dystopian gene editing

As with most new technologies people have widely different views of the practice and gene editing is no different. The first thought that popped into my head was the image of the giant baby hatching places in Aldous Huxley’s A Brave New World, where the population of the fictional dystopian novel is “hatched” by a large machine. They are bred according to several very specific models and with very specific features and capabilities, mental and physical. Since society have been made extremely unfree, the people must be fit into a very tightly shaped box, or they’ll rebel or become generally unproductive and harmful to society.

This is perhaps a very extreme and dystopian form of society but nonetheless a more and more realistic prospective future for ourselves and our children.

The proponents

There are, of course those who see only the good in new technologies, of which there are a lot of things. Imagine a world where we eradicate diseases like cancer, blindness, and all other genetically hereditable problems and diseases, before birth. Imagine a world in which we can select for high IQ and traits like creativity, kindness and with a high sense of duty. Such a society is sure to be heading for the stars with a population that thrives in confined spaces and no sunlight for 150 lightyears.

There are so many positive outcomes from this type of technology that it’d be hard to even grasp the future populated with genetically modified people. Pretty much no hospitals since we won’t have diseases. The people would also be bred to heal faster, have more aversion to getting into dangerous situations, thus reducing injuries, etc.

With great power comes great responsibility

As with all new technology it truly can revolutionise our lives if we manage it well. There are, however, quite a lot of pitfalls with a technology such as this. The Japanese have a saying, wabi-sabi, which means that there’s beauty in imperfections. Things can’t be perfect all the time so we must enjoy the things we have, as they are. This is easier said than done, we all want the best for our children, including genes and absence from hereditary diseases.

There’s a great chance that this, just like with plastic surgery, becomes something that changes us from imperfect humans to some sort of aberration built like Frankenstein’s monster.

There is beauty in the human struggle. We know this from the many incredible work of art and literature that we now call classics. What generally makes a great fictional character better than ‘okay’ is his or her imperfections. It is the growth and development of a character who overcomes the imperfections that speaks to us.

Or is this the technology that finally will take us through the next great filter in our quest for reaching the stars and eternal life?

2024-04-12 04:41

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  • Pressing Pause on Streaming: Is Physical Media Making a Comeback?

    Are people increasingly turning away from the comfort of streaming services and back towards physical mediums? That’s what some people are experiencing, and I’d be lying if it hadn’t crossed my mind as well.

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    Are people increasingly turning away from the comfort of streaming services and back towards physical mediums? That’s what some people are experiencing, and I’d be lying if it hadn’t crossed my mind as well.

    Downsides of streaming services

    What a lot of people, myself included, have experienced with streaming services is the sudden disappearance of the show I’m currently watching or a movie I plan to watch. This has been a recurring theme in our house where we’re about to put on the Friday movie with the kids and it’s just gone. Of course, there are always others, but if you’ve hyped up 3 kids for a movie, there’s going to be some disappointment.

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    Will streaming become a thing of the past?

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    Current Events and Testosterone

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    2024-07-13 11:02 | 0 comments | Health, Testosterone

  • AI combat drones – the future of war… and civility?

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    AI drones in the modern army

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    Implications for civilians

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    2024-07-11 10:20 | 0 comments | AI, AI for war, Technology