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Recombinant genetic engineering was invented almost 5 decades ago, and only recently has it been used on a human embryo. I think humanity has been remarkably pa

Recombinant genetic engineering was invented almost 5 decades ago, and only recently has it been used on a human embryo. I think humanity has been remarkably patient pursuing this technology. It has a bad rap today, but centuries from now how many people will carry genetic modifications/enhancements from their descendants? How will these people look back and judge the scientist today? Might they view scientist like He Jiankui (the chinese scientist responsible for the first genetically engineered embryo brought to term) as the Copernicus(es) of our time?

djohnston 8y ago
several centuries from now, after the successful quelling of the final rebellion of natural born poor people, the wealthy genetic adonis's that inhabit the earth will indeed look upon these developments positively.
- bilbo0s 8y ago
  There would more likely be factional genetic warfare than natural born poor people or wealthy genetic adonises. If you're thinking in terms of poor and rich, then you haven't really thought through all the implications of continuous improvement in genetic engineering. You wouldn't have poor natural born and wealthy genetically engineered. You would have old "obsoletes" trying to hold off supremely ambitious and young "moderns". And it would all be along an age spectrum so that different cohorts with different abilities would group together due to tribalism. Think of a dystopia where you might have something like groups of 20 to 30 year olds out hunting the 5 to 15 year old children of the 40 to 50 year olds. (Because the kids are light years ahead of them in terms of abilities and they saw what happened to the cohorts before them.) Maybe not exactly that, but that's more along the lines of the genetic factionalism that would arise with genetically engineered humans. The great hero of mankind would be the guy who finally figured out how to genetically engineer out the tribalism in humans. Finally allowing us all to live in peace together even if we're out of date in terms of our genetic engineering. (Which almost everyone would be by the time they were 10 or 15.)
  - jostmey 8y ago
    You're assuming that genetic engineering is expensive and that only the rich will be able to afford it. I think it more likely that genetic engineering will be cheap and easy to perform, for better or worse
    - djohnston 8y ago
      i'm not sure he is. the point of each generation being successively more advanced would also allow for the rich to receive the most cutting edge tech ahead of everyone else. even if everyone has access, i don't think it would be a level playing field. especially because costs may be covered for things like disease prevention, but probably not for things like intelligence, strength, etc.
- Datenstrom 8y ago
  Under the wealthy genetic adonis's will be a caste system of people engineered for specific job roles also of course. If this sounds like an interesting novel I would recommend Red Rising by Pierce Brown. It explores some of these issues.
  - westmeal 8y ago
    Sounds like a brave new world

djohnston 8y ago

several centuries from now, after the successful quelling of the final rebellion of natural born poor people, the wealthy genetic adonis's that inhabit the earth will indeed look upon these developments positively.

bilbo0s 8y ago
There would more likely be factional genetic warfare than natural born poor people or wealthy genetic adonises. If you're thinking in terms of poor and rich, then you haven't really thought through all the implications of continuous improvement in genetic engineering. You wouldn't have poor natural born and wealthy genetically engineered. You would have old "obsoletes" trying to hold off supremely ambitious and young "moderns". And it would all be along an age spectrum so that different cohorts with different abilities would group together due to tribalism. Think of a dystopia where you might have something like groups of 20 to 30 year olds out hunting the 5 to 15 year old children of the 40 to 50 year olds. (Because the kids are light years ahead of them in terms of abilities and they saw what happened to the cohorts before them.) Maybe not exactly that, but that's more along the lines of the genetic factionalism that would arise with genetically engineered humans. The great hero of mankind would be the guy who finally figured out how to genetically engineer out the tribalism in humans. Finally allowing us all to live in peace together even if we're out of date in terms of our genetic engineering. (Which almost everyone would be by the time they were 10 or 15.)
- jostmey 8y ago
  You're assuming that genetic engineering is expensive and that only the rich will be able to afford it. I think it more likely that genetic engineering will be cheap and easy to perform, for better or worse
  - djohnston 8y ago
    i'm not sure he is. the point of each generation being successively more advanced would also allow for the rich to receive the most cutting edge tech ahead of everyone else. even if everyone has access, i don't think it would be a level playing field. especially because costs may be covered for things like disease prevention, but probably not for things like intelligence, strength, etc.
Datenstrom 8y ago
Under the wealthy genetic adonis's will be a caste system of people engineered for specific job roles also of course. If this sounds like an interesting novel I would recommend Red Rising by Pierce Brown. It explores some of these issues.
- westmeal 8y ago
  Sounds like a brave new world