4 ms·

Generally the reason we think of Eugenicists as "bad guys" is because they've been characterized by being happy to sterilize or kill people to prevent their "s

by hobs 1y ago

Generally the reason we think of Eugenicists as "bad guys" is because they've been characterized by being happy to sterilize or kill people to prevent their "subhuman genes" from being passed down to the next generations. This is different, another step in the erasure of genes that harm humans. This is not a genocide. It seems like your argument boils down to we should continue to have horrible suffering and early death because diversity of DNA is good and we shouldn't edit out potentially helpful mutations (that also cause horrible suffering) - if we can beat malaria, why would we need sickle cell?

MostlyStable 1y ago
So I think this person is wrong, but the one little nugget in there that is partially right is that I do think it's important that, before we start modifying genomes on a wide scale, we should have a pretty comprehensive database (100's of thousands to millions) of whole-genome sequences (alongside mitochondrial DNA) stored.
- tomrod 1y ago
  To my understanding that's still super expensive. We can do short SNPs (snippets? Not my field, I'm armchairing) for cheap like good ole 23andme but not full genome cheaply.
  - MostlyStable 1y ago
    As of 2023, it was apparently <$1000/sequence [0], which means it would be a few hundred million to maybe a billion dollars. Which is a lot, but it really only needs to be done once, and is a global project. That seems pretty reasonable all things considered. But also, we can probably wait a little while since it's not super crucial until artificial genetic modification starts to get widespread, which is still probably a decade off or so. We could probably start just collecting samples now, and as long as they are appropriately preserved, the actual sequencing could be done later when it gets even cheaper. [0] https://3billion.io/blog/whole-genome-sequencing-cost-2023 https://3billion.io/blog/whole-genome-sequencing-cost-2023
    - MostlyStable 1y ago
      It occurs to me that the sequencing itself probably wouldn't be the main cost. Collecting the samples, and the manpower needed to do it, would be far, far more expensive. Probably at least 10x the cost, especially if you were really serious about getting the full range of diversity.
FollowingTheDao 1y ago
[flagged]

by hobs 1y ago

MostlyStable 1y ago

So I think this person is wrong, but the one little nugget in there that is partially right is that I do think it's important that, before we start modifying genomes on a wide scale, we should have a pretty comprehensive database (100's of thousands to millions) of whole-genome sequences (alongside mitochondrial DNA) stored.

tomrod 1y ago
To my understanding that's still super expensive. We can do short SNPs (snippets? Not my field, I'm armchairing) for cheap like good ole 23andme but not full genome cheaply.
- MostlyStable 1y ago
  As of 2023, it was apparently <$1000/sequence [0], which means it would be a few hundred million to maybe a billion dollars. Which is a lot, but it really only needs to be done once, and is a global project. That seems pretty reasonable all things considered. But also, we can probably wait a little while since it's not super crucial until artificial genetic modification starts to get widespread, which is still probably a decade off or so. We could probably start just collecting samples now, and as long as they are appropriately preserved, the actual sequencing could be done later when it gets even cheaper. [0] https://3billion.io/blog/whole-genome-sequencing-cost-2023 https://3billion.io/blog/whole-genome-sequencing-cost-2023
  - MostlyStable 1y ago
    It occurs to me that the sequencing itself probably wouldn't be the main cost. Collecting the samples, and the manpower needed to do it, would be far, far more expensive. Probably at least 10x the cost, especially if you were really serious about getting the full range of diversity.

FollowingTheDao 1y ago

[flagged]