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>We'll be a radically different species in just 200 to 300 years, through self-controlled evolution that has already begun We are essentially already doing thi
by ManFromUranus 11y ago
>We'll be a radically different species in just 200 to 300 years, through self-controlled evolution that has already begun
We are essentially already doing this. We are selecting for cancer and other disease processes when we cure cancer and other diseases in children who would otherwise have died who then survive to reproduce. It's not polite to say this, but that is what is happening.
- SCHiM 11y agoBut we're also on the cusp of being able to identify and then pre-emptively remove those genes for the gene pool directly via IVF + screening of the embryo to make sure that it doesn't carry any known diseases and/or defects. Even if we don't actively edit a embryo it will still speed up the evolution of our species.
- marcosdumay 11y agoWe've been changing our selection factors for millenniums. Fire and road building had much stronger effects than anything coming from medical procedures today. Humans are a cybernetic species. Always were.
- mikeash 11y agoAre you really selecting for cancer when you do that, or are you merely no longer selecting against cancer?