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"Nevertheless, I am sure that during the next century, people will discover how to modify both intelligence, and instincts like aggression." Commit crime --> G

"Nevertheless, I am sure that during the next century, people will discover how to modify both intelligence, and instincts like aggression." Commit crime --> Get sent to Rehabilitation Center --> Get a few bits flipped in your DNA --> Off you go. This could go Really Wrong (ex: extremist pacifists take control and turn off the aggression bits in everyone) but it's an interesting scenario.

lukifer 17y ago
The more inclusive corollary to Murphy's Law: Anything that can happen, will happen. I imagine we'll see a lot of positive change, as well as widespread injustice and abuse. So it goes.
nollidge 17y ago
There's a couple issues here: this would be fairly difficult, as you'd need to change the DNA in probably several billions of cells before any phenotypic change could be effected. Perhaps one mechanism may be to engineer a retrovirus that would rewrite portions of DNA. This could obviously have far more important impacts as well: such an RV could reprogram cancerous cells to die off like proper cells, or disable their angiogenic capability; and of course it could be programmed to rewrite genes implicated in diseases like sickle-cell anemia or multiple sclerosis. Another issue is that while genetics of course plays a role in behavior, I think it plays out more in directing the development of the brain, not the actual millisecond-to-millisecond activities of it. Based on my ankle-deep knowledge of neuroscience, I think that adjusting the DNA is unlikely to cause an adult brain to rearrange itself in such a way as to modify behavior. A more likely use for it could be in adjusting brain chemistry, which I'm guessing can have dramatic, if not entirely targeted, effects.
Zaak 17y ago
> This could go Really Wrong (ex: extremist pacifists take control and turn off the aggression bits in everyone) but it's an interesting scenario. Which isn't a problem until we encounter the Kzinti...

lukifer 17y ago

The more inclusive corollary to Murphy's Law: Anything that can happen, will happen. I imagine we'll see a lot of positive change, as well as widespread injustice and abuse. So it goes.

nollidge 17y ago

There's a couple issues here: this would be fairly difficult, as you'd need to change the DNA in probably several billions of cells before any phenotypic change could be effected. Perhaps one mechanism may be to engineer a retrovirus that would rewrite portions of DNA. This could obviously have far more important impacts as well: such an RV could reprogram cancerous cells to die off like proper cells, or disable their angiogenic capability; and of course it could be programmed to rewrite genes implicated in diseases like sickle-cell anemia or multiple sclerosis. Another issue is that while genetics of course plays a role in behavior, I think it plays out more in directing the development of the brain, not the actual millisecond-to-millisecond activities of it. Based on my ankle-deep knowledge of neuroscience, I think that adjusting the DNA is unlikely to cause an adult brain to rearrange itself in such a way as to modify behavior. A more likely use for it could be in adjusting brain chemistry, which I'm guessing can have dramatic, if not entirely targeted, effects.

Zaak 17y ago

> This could go Really Wrong (ex: extremist pacifists take control and turn off the aggression bits in everyone) but it's an interesting scenario. Which isn't a problem until we encounter the Kzinti...