10 ms·

Awesome. I've been avidly following the CRISPR/Cas9 developments over the past five years or so, and the possibilities seem astonishing. I can't wait to see wh

Awesome. I've been avidly following the CRISPR/Cas9 developments over the past five years or so, and the possibilities seem astonishing. I can't wait to see where this all leads!

azinman2 11y ago
Some cool stuff combined with very scary stuff, like eugenics and large scale food chain modifications with unpredictable effects (already being planned with mosquitos).
- sghodas 11y ago
  That's also true for most major breakthroughs like this one.
  - azinman2 11y ago
    There's never been a breakthrough like this -- what you edit dominantly gets transferred to offspring. Previous gene therapies didn't necessarily get propagated, which means any mistakes are permanent.... the potential for disaster is huge.
    - foxylad 11y ago
      Until we completely understand the risks, perhaps we should make a rule not to breed after genetic manipulation. If you want kids and gene therapy, kids first.
- duaneb 11y ago
  > eugenics Well, in this case CRISPR wouldn't make much sense for negative eugenics—i.e. trimming the gene pool—vs positive eugenics—purposely introducing or manipulating existing genes. While the latter is still scary, it's not exactly close to the mass sterilization people think of.
  - azinman2 11y ago
    Negative eugenics is currently being planned for deployment to control which mosquitos are able to reproduce. http://www.nature.com/nbt/journal/v34/n1/full/nbt.3439.html http://www.nature.com/nbt/journal/v34/n1/full/nbt.3439.html https://medium.com/mit-media-lab/kevin-esvelt-joins-the-media-lab-3e33fe24f90#.y2qfqy39w https://medium.com/mit-media-lab/kevin-esvelt-joins-the-medi...
    - afarrell 11y ago
      Which I applaud for the same reason I applaud some of the extinctions we have caused.
      - ktRolster 11y ago
        Which extinction do you applaud?
        spb 11y ago
        I can't help but feel like life is easier without sabertoothed tigers roaming the streets
        Dylan16807 11y ago
        There are non-extinct big scary cats. They don't cause much trouble. We'd be doing fine without that extinction.
        cat-dev-null 11y ago
        http://www.cdc.gov/malaria/about/history/elimination_us.html http://www.cdc.gov/malaria/about/history/elimination_us.html
        afarrell 11y ago
        Smallpox. And I hope we succeed with Polio over the next few years.
    - 11y ago
- cubano 11y ago
  It seems to me the people who can't get their heads around GMO'ed foods are going to utterly freak about this pretty soon. I hope I'm wrong, but how can anyone see that working out?
dghughes 11y ago
My guess is someone in China will use it to create some sort of hair restoration method or device.

Awesome. I've been avidly following the CRISPR/Cas9 developments over the past five years or so, and the possibilities seem astonishing. I can't wait to see where this all leads!

azinman2 11y ago

Some cool stuff combined with very scary stuff, like eugenics and large scale food chain modifications with unpredictable effects (already being planned with mosquitos).

sghodas 11y ago
That's also true for most major breakthroughs like this one.
- azinman2 11y ago
  There's never been a breakthrough like this -- what you edit dominantly gets transferred to offspring. Previous gene therapies didn't necessarily get propagated, which means any mistakes are permanent.... the potential for disaster is huge.
  - foxylad 11y ago
    Until we completely understand the risks, perhaps we should make a rule not to breed after genetic manipulation. If you want kids and gene therapy, kids first.
duaneb 11y ago
> eugenics Well, in this case CRISPR wouldn't make much sense for negative eugenics—i.e. trimming the gene pool—vs positive eugenics—purposely introducing or manipulating existing genes. While the latter is still scary, it's not exactly close to the mass sterilization people think of.
- azinman2 11y ago
  Negative eugenics is currently being planned for deployment to control which mosquitos are able to reproduce. http://www.nature.com/nbt/journal/v34/n1/full/nbt.3439.html http://www.nature.com/nbt/journal/v34/n1/full/nbt.3439.html https://medium.com/mit-media-lab/kevin-esvelt-joins-the-media-lab-3e33fe24f90#.y2qfqy39w https://medium.com/mit-media-lab/kevin-esvelt-joins-the-medi...
  - afarrell 11y ago
    Which I applaud for the same reason I applaud some of the extinctions we have caused.
    - ktRolster 11y ago
      Which extinction do you applaud?
      - spb 11y ago
        I can't help but feel like life is easier without sabertoothed tigers roaming the streets
        Dylan16807 11y ago
        There are non-extinct big scary cats. They don't cause much trouble. We'd be doing fine without that extinction.
      - cat-dev-null 11y ago
        http://www.cdc.gov/malaria/about/history/elimination_us.html http://www.cdc.gov/malaria/about/history/elimination_us.html
      - afarrell 11y ago
        Smallpox. And I hope we succeed with Polio over the next few years.
  - 11y ago
cubano 11y ago
It seems to me the people who can't get their heads around GMO'ed foods are going to utterly freak about this pretty soon. I hope I'm wrong, but how can anyone see that working out?

dghughes 11y ago

My guess is someone in China will use it to create some sort of hair restoration method or device.