4 ms·

My view on this, if I knew my kids were going to be little: 1) I would absolutely get my children on that. 2) I don't want others to take it - I don't want to g

My view on this, if I knew my kids were going to be little: 1) I would absolutely get my children on that. 2) I don't want others to take it - I don't want to give my kid to have a chance to mate with someone else after the treatment. Chances of producing affected offspring are too high. I'm a bit too tired right now to see a solution which isn't straight up eugenics, but it's an interesting problem to ponder about. Public record? Forced sterilization? Abortion? Of whom, carriers and affected or affected only?

ladberg 7y ago
If the medicine is easily available, then you shouldn't have any issues with your kids mating with people afflicted. Your grandkids can just take the medicine and it will become a non-issue in the same way that a cleft lip is today.
- michalf6 7y ago
  That's the issue I'm worried about - after a doomsday scenario like war / cataclysm / plague my descendants would most likely be deprived of that medicine, likely resulting in my direct ancestral line dying off. In a more general sense, I'm very concerned about the point in human evolution when we can't live our lives and reproduce anymore without the aid of technology. Then it takes one cataclysm to wipe us out. I see your point though, this kind of event seems unlikely.
  - klipt 7y ago
    After a cataclysm, wouldn't your short sighted descendents have trouble without glasses too? Does that mean you wouldn't date anyone who's shortsighted? Also you're assuming we develop technology to cure all these genetic problems in the phenotype, without being able to CRISPR them away in the genotype too, which may happen in the nearish future.
  - chipperyman573 7y ago
    This is a really interesting point I haven't thought of, but haven't we really already reached that point? Terrible diseases that used to wipe out entire civilizations are stopped dead (heh) in their tracks by taking a pill for a few weeks, stopping us from developing an immune system that can respond well.
missblit 7y ago
> I'm a bit too tired right now to see a solution which isn't straight up eugenics, but it's an interesting problem to ponder about. Public record? Forced sterilization? Abortion? Of whom, carriers and affected or affected only? Everything on that list is eugenics.

ladberg 7y ago

If the medicine is easily available, then you shouldn't have any issues with your kids mating with people afflicted. Your grandkids can just take the medicine and it will become a non-issue in the same way that a cleft lip is today.

michalf6 7y ago
That's the issue I'm worried about - after a doomsday scenario like war / cataclysm / plague my descendants would most likely be deprived of that medicine, likely resulting in my direct ancestral line dying off. In a more general sense, I'm very concerned about the point in human evolution when we can't live our lives and reproduce anymore without the aid of technology. Then it takes one cataclysm to wipe us out. I see your point though, this kind of event seems unlikely.
- klipt 7y ago
  After a cataclysm, wouldn't your short sighted descendents have trouble without glasses too? Does that mean you wouldn't date anyone who's shortsighted? Also you're assuming we develop technology to cure all these genetic problems in the phenotype, without being able to CRISPR them away in the genotype too, which may happen in the nearish future.
- chipperyman573 7y ago
  This is a really interesting point I haven't thought of, but haven't we really already reached that point? Terrible diseases that used to wipe out entire civilizations are stopped dead (heh) in their tracks by taking a pill for a few weeks, stopping us from developing an immune system that can respond well.

missblit 7y ago

> I'm a bit too tired right now to see a solution which isn't straight up eugenics, but it's an interesting problem to ponder about. Public record? Forced sterilization? Abortion? Of whom, carriers and affected or affected only? Everything on that list is eugenics.