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Those are valid points. However, immunization has virtually eradicated entire families of diseases with serious, life-altering side effects. I would argue that
by fs_tab 6y ago
Those are valid points. However, immunization has virtually eradicated entire families of diseases with serious, life-altering side effects. I would argue that the short-term benefits outweigh the potential long-term consequences in this case, especially if we continue to vaccinate children against these diseases.
That being said, I think it's far more likely that genetic conditions and predispositions to disease will be resolved through genetic engineering, not natural selection.
- lopmotr 6y agoYea, it's not obvious whether we should be sacrificing people today to maybe save future people, especially if we can genetically engineer it all away. But our ancestors (or rather the humans that weren't our ancestors) were certainly sacrificed for our benefit. I don't think we'll evolve our way out of genetic diseases or we would have already. Rather, it seems like we'll degenerate into higher rates of them without ongoing selection pressure keeping the rate low.