Designer Babies

[Southtown]

I found this browsing, and thought it would be nice and controversial. It's a hot topic with both pros and cons. But as a game, it could get played with no referee.

"Every parent wants their child to have the best in life. But would this extend to picking the best genes for them? To date, genetic technology has only been used to treat serious disease in children. But as ways are developed to manipulate our DNA, there are those who think that parents will inevitably want to choose their children's genes, and create 'designer babies'."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sn/tvradio/prog..._summary.shtml

[Tormod]

I am so stupendously against this that it hurts. It's not only meddling with evolution in an unpredictable way, but there are also other risks: Nobody knows for sure whether activating certain parts of a gene sequence will have an adverse effect on other parts. Maybe children with pretty blur eyes and high IQ will turn out to have short telomerase (the bit which decides how old we get). Or they may be vulnerable to other diseases.

But my largest gripe with it is that children is not something we should go out and buy. It is something which should be an offspring of it's parents, for good and bad. I don't want a world where you're worth less because your parents couldn't afford to have you genetically engineered.

[Boerseun]

Yeah - almost like tattoos!

Imagine:

Today, babies with blue eyes and blond hair are all the rage. Ten years down the line, everybody is going to feel pretty silly about it, 'cause there's a new thing now - GREEN eyes! Now what? This'll be like being stuck with '80s hair for the rest of your life, or having had a tattoo done of some one-hit-wonder pop star like Vanilla Ice, who disappeared a few weeks after fame hit.

Regardless of the inherent dangers involved, I think its wrong in the same sense I think tattooing is wrong, albeit not closely as dangerous. Well, I should say I think tattooing is more stupid than wrong, but hey - that's only me spouting trash here.

[orbsycli]

my baby is going to be better at math than YOUR baby is!!!
"oh wow- you got yours done at Dr. Shutlzy's? OH MY! i've heard he does the best tracking implants in town!"

[Boerseun]

Yes - but my kid's gonna have four arms! Imagine! The little sucker will be able to mow the lawn and wash the car at the same time!
Wait a minute... that means I'll have to pay him twice his allowance?! Ah heck - I'll just leave it then.

[orbsycli]

i've always wanted a baby blue baby

[Boerseun]

Originally Posted by orbsycli

i've always wanted a baby blue baby

Interesting point...

Where does the idea 'baby blue' come from, as a colour description? I cannot connect the colour blue with a baby. A live one, that is. If we're talking about the blue hue a baby's got that's suffocated on its blanky, I don't think that's a pretty image to behold when describing a colour. But that's the only instance you'll find a blue baby, I guess.

Do you think paint sellers will sell less paint if they try to sell you a tin of "Dead baby" enamel?

Sheesh...

[jamongo]

There may be an outcry against this manipulation, but that will not stop it from happening. Humans are going to do it. So what are the positive aspects? There must be some.

Possibly to eliminate some or all of the deseases?
Increased intelligence?
Healthier, stronger bodies?
Prettier people? (But that, of course, should remind us that beauty is in the eye of the beholder)

What happens if one nation developes this procedure while the rest of the world bans it. Will that nation eventually rule the rest, by military or economic means?

DNA manipulation as well as human cloning will happen. Bet on it.
Let me say I think the 19th and early 20th centuries should have been taught us something. The resistance to scientific "advancements" was enormous. Let's just hope it is properly controlled. Which could open up a brand new debate on who the controller should be.

[Southtown]

You're right Jam. If there are buyers then there will be sellers, and the politicians are for sale to any corporation with enough campaign contributions. And of course the military will buy in as well.

Amen, Tormod. It's just scary stuff. I am even against GM food. I think that will even have a trickle down effect on our physiology, an unmeasurable effect (think chaos theory).

Hell, I'm even against pesticides and preservatives. Whether created or evolved, our bodies are structured to intake certain chemicals that nature provides as only she can. I don't think we've realized our full potential even. We should be using science to draw closer to nature not wean ourselves from it.

[HydrogenBond]

I think the problem with the designer babies will be due to the limitations of genetic theory. One may be able to manipulate superfiscial things fairly easily but the genetic theory of consciousness is more of a joke and will lead to a lot of disappointment and social expense. If one considers the number of neurons and all the branching and synapses, it is going to take more than a few genes to have an progressive impact on that. It would probably requires thousands of genes each being modified and rearranged on the DNA.