I just found this, so sorry for the late reply.
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Originally Posted by Nitack
Should we consider altering DNA in humans in order to combat a problem that is already preventable through behavioral changes?
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It seems people are going to bypass behavioral changes anyways as evidenced by liposuction and other physical alteration procedures.
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What are possible unintended consequences of a solution on the genetic level to obesity? Calories are plentiful now, but what if a Malthusian food shortages arise... we might have a population that would require more Calories than we have due to this genetic manipulation.
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This certainly seems like a valid concern, but I think that over population will become a problem before a massive population of calorie-hungry genetically-modified humans become a significant factor.
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What if some one lost a job or money became tight and they could no longer afford the same amounts of food that they were eating before? Can we really imagine people starving to death on a 2000 Calorie diet?
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Well, presumably, someone in a situation to afford such cutting edge gene altercation would probably not be concerned about not being able to purchase the necessary amount of calories.
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Are we not trying to force the hand of evolution? Eventually we would find obesity filtered out of our gene pool as more and more people found early deaths. Is a genetic alteration solution better than the one already present in nature?
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Good questions.
Evolution still factors in. We might consider it "forcing the hand of evolution", but it's only one aspect that may affect evolution.
Is it a better solution? Maybe, maybe not.
There's no way to tell for sure unless experimental data is produced.
In general, I think it's a bad idea for humans to intentionally try to alter evolution. At the extreme, it reminds me of
"Brave New World" by Huxley. In a lesser extent, it reminds me of our own fragility and the lengths we go to in order to compensate. The fact remains. No matter what we do, we will still be subject to the natural (from Nature, apart from human-induced) Evolution.
