> So if everyone is given the genes to be massively intelligent, is that a good thing? > I'd say so, yes. My thoughts on this are overshadowed by Brave New Wor

> So if everyone is given the genes to be massively intelligent, is that a good thing? > I'd say so, yes. My thoughts on this are overshadowed by Brave New World. I realise how enormously snobbish and arrogant this sounds, but there are some jobs where having an enormous intellect would definitely be a burden. So either we have to automate those jobs (not necessarily possible), accept that some people are going to be very unhappy, or breed a specific group of people with lower intellects. I guess this is a variation on the 'tragedy of the commons' - something that's wonderful for your child and my child would probably be a disaster if it were given to everybody's child. > Just because someone is perfectly capable of living a happy and fulfilled life with a birth defect doesn't mean the lack thereof wouldn't be preferable. I think sometimes disabilities are part of what make them amazing people. Would Beethoven have written such wonderful music if he had full hearing? From what I've read of Dame Evelyn Glennie, she seems to say that her deafness taught her to hear the music in a different way. So I'm worried that removing everything we perceive to be a defect results in a rather bland human race. It would be better to work on improving society so that being blind didn't cause many people to become depressed, for example. Adding lifts and ramps to buildings as well. > Keep in mind, not choosing is itself a choice. I'd like that the choice is not even possible. If the choice can be made confidently by a large proportion of the population, then it would inevitably go this way. Yes you're right, a lot of this does depend on what we're considering a defect and at what stage. We have obviously done the whole Down's Syndrome scan, and we had no idea what we would have done if it had come back positive. If I could have done this pre-conception, then it would be a more comfortable decision. But if the question was about being short-sighted (which both my wife and I are), or whether we'd prefer a more athletic child, then the question gets much harder.