4 ms·

The Silicon Valley push to breed super-babies

20 points by ironyman 1y ago

ironyman 1y ago
non-paywalled link: https://www.msn.com/en-us/science/genetics/inside-the-silicon-valley-push-to-breed-super-babies/ar-AA1IHFHO https://www.msn.com/en-us/science/genetics/inside-the-silico...
Stevemiller07 1y ago
Wild times. The ethics and long-term risks here seem huge. Are we really ready for designer genetics at scale?
- rvz 1y ago
  > The ethics and long-term risks here seem huge. They [0] will do it anyway. Ethics, risks and morals be damned. Dystopia capitalism is highly profitable. [0] https://mynucleus.com/ https://mynucleus.com/
- JohnFen 1y ago
  If there are two things SV tends not to care about, they are ethics and long-term risks.
  - red-iron-pine 1y ago
    "Yes, the planet got destroyed. But for a beautiful moment in time we created a lot of value for shareholders."
- gavinray 1y ago
  > The ethics and long-term risks here seem huge. Do they? If we have the ability to screen embryos to determine which ones are likely to have the least health problems, and to live as fulfilling and successful a life of possible, do we not then have a moral imperative to do this? Supposing it were free: to choose NOT to do it, would be to say, "I don't care if I bring avoidable pain and suffering into the world."
  - culopatin 1y ago
    Every time I talk to my gf about this we get to the “where do we draw the line” question. You can keep expanding the list of filters until you have people with money taking off not only in opportunity but now also genetically.
    - trod1234 1y ago
      Also, lets not forget the key concept of counter-party risk. What assurances and real resolutions do you have that what they market is actually true; and the baby your gf is carrying isn't in fact a mini-musk with no related DNA from you. Like a cuckoo bird. Interestingly the term cuckold, referring to a man whose wife was unfaithful, originates from the Cuckoo bird, where the bird is tricked into raising children biologically not their own; as happens with brood parasitism. These advances bring into question long-term fitness and survivability. We know mono-cultures die out quite easily. Before long we might have a "Surface" event, like what happened in that TV show. There are things that cannot be undone, and there are blind people more than willing to ensure those things are full steam ahead.
- mc32 1y ago
  The soviets had been thinking about this at least since their socialist revolution with the idea of the new soviet man[1] [1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Soviet_man https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Soviet_man
- bithive123 1y ago
  Even absent ethical or practical risks, it seems presumptuous to assume that we know what direction our evolution should take. The inferior beings that need improvement are the same beings that will do the improving? That would imply an implausible level of knowledge about the future and what characteristics will be desirable.
  - ben_w 1y ago
    > That would imply an implausible level of knowledge about the future and what characteristics will be desirable. Why? The default is evolution doing the same thing by randomly mutating each of us a little bit and seeing what sticks. It also doesn't have a plan, or insight into the future conditions we might encounter or create.
more_corn 1y ago
I only know seven sci-fi films and shows that have warned about how this will go badly.
- ben_w 1y ago
  Conversely, for how it can go right, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Culture https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Culture The Affront within that series also shows how it can go badly, the point is that even our fiction isn't limited to "badly".
jasonthorsness 1y ago
I get the few single-mutation-equals-fatal-disease screens, but I think with what little we currently know about most other genes and more complex effects, and how long it takes to see any outcome of your decisions based on this (and you’ll never be able to know what exactly to attribute to the selection vs. chance or other factors) this might just end up a very expensive pseudoscience/scam for a while. Also I am surprised you can take five cells from an embryo with no effect! I guess at this point that’s probably well-proven through more basic screens.
bitbasher 1y ago
Pretty sure this was the prologue to Gattaca.
- thijson 1y ago
  I posted a youtube link to the Gattaca prologue in a similar post on here. It got flagged. Pretty sure it's virtually identical to the movie's premise.
Hatrix 1y ago
Next headline: AI Is Replacing Babies
greenhearth 1y ago
What's the point of these superbabies if their brains are going to be full of plastic anyway?
envp 1y ago
Am I missing something… why does this sound like eugenics with extra steps?
- Tadpole9181 1y ago
  I mean, curing genetic diseases is good. And it doesn't hurt to make sure your kid is attractive and charismatic. On the other hand, this will absolutely and unequivocally be used for babies with... specific phenotypes associated with wealth or class. And, worse yet, it inherently encodes a poor tax into the very fiber of a human being that will exacerbate inequality. Something that will only grow as the designer genes become even more effective. I guess, in the end, the rich will claim to be justified when they call the poor "less human".
arjie 1y ago
My family is featured at the bottom of the article. If you're curious about the process I wrote most of it down here as it occurred and some after from memory: https://wiki.roshangeorge.dev/w/IVF https://wiki.roshangeorge.dev/w/IVF The actual process of our pregnancy is written here: https://wiki.roshangeorge.dev/w/Pregnancy https://wiki.roshangeorge.dev/w/Pregnancy And a quick primer on our gene mutations is here: https://wiki.roshangeorge.dev/w/Gene_Mutations https://wiki.roshangeorge.dev/w/Gene_Mutations Feel free to ask me any questions.

20 points by ironyman 1y ago

non-paywalled link: https://www.msn.com/en-us/science/genetics/inside-the-silicon-valley-push-to-breed-super-babies/ar-AA1IHFHO https://www.msn.com/en-us/science/genetics/inside-the-silico...

Stevemiller07 1y ago

Wild times. The ethics and long-term risks here seem huge. Are we really ready for designer genetics at scale?

rvz 1y ago
> The ethics and long-term risks here seem huge. They [0] will do it anyway. Ethics, risks and morals be damned. Dystopia capitalism is highly profitable. [0] https://mynucleus.com/ https://mynucleus.com/
JohnFen 1y ago
If there are two things SV tends not to care about, they are ethics and long-term risks.
- red-iron-pine 1y ago
  "Yes, the planet got destroyed. But for a beautiful moment in time we created a lot of value for shareholders."
gavinray 1y ago
> The ethics and long-term risks here seem huge. Do they? If we have the ability to screen embryos to determine which ones are likely to have the least health problems, and to live as fulfilling and successful a life of possible, do we not then have a moral imperative to do this? Supposing it were free: to choose NOT to do it, would be to say, "I don't care if I bring avoidable pain and suffering into the world."
- culopatin 1y ago
  Every time I talk to my gf about this we get to the “where do we draw the line” question. You can keep expanding the list of filters until you have people with money taking off not only in opportunity but now also genetically.
  - trod1234 1y ago
    Also, lets not forget the key concept of counter-party risk. What assurances and real resolutions do you have that what they market is actually true; and the baby your gf is carrying isn't in fact a mini-musk with no related DNA from you. Like a cuckoo bird. Interestingly the term cuckold, referring to a man whose wife was unfaithful, originates from the Cuckoo bird, where the bird is tricked into raising children biologically not their own; as happens with brood parasitism. These advances bring into question long-term fitness and survivability. We know mono-cultures die out quite easily. Before long we might have a "Surface" event, like what happened in that TV show. There are things that cannot be undone, and there are blind people more than willing to ensure those things are full steam ahead.
mc32 1y ago
The soviets had been thinking about this at least since their socialist revolution with the idea of the new soviet man[1] [1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Soviet_man https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Soviet_man
bithive123 1y ago
Even absent ethical or practical risks, it seems presumptuous to assume that we know what direction our evolution should take. The inferior beings that need improvement are the same beings that will do the improving? That would imply an implausible level of knowledge about the future and what characteristics will be desirable.
- ben_w 1y ago
  > That would imply an implausible level of knowledge about the future and what characteristics will be desirable. Why? The default is evolution doing the same thing by randomly mutating each of us a little bit and seeing what sticks. It also doesn't have a plan, or insight into the future conditions we might encounter or create.

more_corn 1y ago

I only know seven sci-fi films and shows that have warned about how this will go badly.

ben_w 1y ago
Conversely, for how it can go right, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Culture https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Culture The Affront within that series also shows how it can go badly, the point is that even our fiction isn't limited to "badly".

jasonthorsness 1y ago

I get the few single-mutation-equals-fatal-disease screens, but I think with what little we currently know about most other genes and more complex effects, and how long it takes to see any outcome of your decisions based on this (and you’ll never be able to know what exactly to attribute to the selection vs. chance or other factors) this might just end up a very expensive pseudoscience/scam for a while. Also I am surprised you can take five cells from an embryo with no effect! I guess at this point that’s probably well-proven through more basic screens.

bitbasher 1y ago

Pretty sure this was the prologue to Gattaca.

thijson 1y ago
I posted a youtube link to the Gattaca prologue in a similar post on here. It got flagged. Pretty sure it's virtually identical to the movie's premise.

Hatrix 1y ago

Next headline: AI Is Replacing Babies

greenhearth 1y ago

What's the point of these superbabies if their brains are going to be full of plastic anyway?

envp 1y ago

Am I missing something… why does this sound like eugenics with extra steps?

Tadpole9181 1y ago
I mean, curing genetic diseases is good. And it doesn't hurt to make sure your kid is attractive and charismatic. On the other hand, this will absolutely and unequivocally be used for babies with... specific phenotypes associated with wealth or class. And, worse yet, it inherently encodes a poor tax into the very fiber of a human being that will exacerbate inequality. Something that will only grow as the designer genes become even more effective. I guess, in the end, the rich will claim to be justified when they call the poor "less human".

arjie 1y ago

My family is featured at the bottom of the article. If you're curious about the process I wrote most of it down here as it occurred and some after from memory: https://wiki.roshangeorge.dev/w/IVF https://wiki.roshangeorge.dev/w/IVF The actual process of our pregnancy is written here: https://wiki.roshangeorge.dev/w/Pregnancy https://wiki.roshangeorge.dev/w/Pregnancy And a quick primer on our gene mutations is here: https://wiki.roshangeorge.dev/w/Gene_Mutations https://wiki.roshangeorge.dev/w/Gene_Mutations Feel free to ask me any questions.