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☖ Forums → Discussion Forum → First GATTACA-style babies born
First GATTACA-style babies born
2006-11-14, 9:05 PM #1
http://www.impactlab.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=9803

I wonder how long it will take before choosing the traits of your unborn child becomes commonplace. Personally I can't wait. In theory, this could get rid of all hereditary diseases and genetic predispositions for different problems, at least in First World countries.

Though I can definitely understand that some might consider this to be a bad thing.
Stuff
2006-11-14, 9:27 PM #2
Hmm... I don't know what to think of that.
2006-11-14, 9:29 PM #3
No more genetic diseases sounds A-OK to me. I can't imagine why anyone would be against that.
"it is time to get a credit card to complete my financial independance" — Tibby, Aug. 2009
2006-11-14, 9:49 PM #4
You've never watched Gattaca, have you?

Think discrimination.
Council of 14
2006-11-14, 9:56 PM #5
This isn't new, in March 2001, a facility in New Jersey announced 30 people were born with DNA from three people.
omnia mea mecum porto
2006-11-14, 10:02 PM #6
I never heard anything about that. :confused: Were they really "designer", though, in the sense that the embryos were chosen for some specific characteristics?
Stuff
2006-11-14, 10:05 PM #7
Yes, as in if they hadn't been modified, the would not have survived until birth.

Actually, after reading your article entirely, they didn't modify anything, they screened each of the couple's natural sex cells and screened for the ideal match up. I suppose that would be closer to GATTACA than actually modifying the cells to get rid of a defect.
omnia mea mecum porto
2006-11-14, 10:10 PM #8
Please oh please I don't want GATTACA to become a reality... :(
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2006-11-14, 10:16 PM #9
I need to watch that movie again.
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2006-11-15, 1:58 AM #10
Originally posted by KyleKatarn7:
You've never watched Gattaca, have you?

Think discrimination.

A short period of discrimination, perhaps, over the next few generations until we start breeding normally again when all the nasty genes have been weeded out.

There's no reason to fear a smarter, more capable generation as the result of genetic engineering. No reason other than your own inferiority complex.
Bassoon, n. A brazen instrument into which a fool blows out his brains.
2006-11-15, 2:06 AM #11
Or until your descendents are bred into worker classes while the thinking classes live the high-life.
omnia mea mecum porto
2006-11-15, 2:17 AM #12
In that case, free gene therapy for all!
Bassoon, n. A brazen instrument into which a fool blows out his brains.
2006-11-15, 2:36 AM #13
Pfft, soma will make everyone happy anyway. Why resist?
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2006-11-15, 4:33 AM #14
Übermenschen! :saddowns:
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2006-11-15, 5:50 AM #15
Originally posted by Impi:
Pfft, soma will make everyone happy anyway. Why resist?


When did this become Brave New World?

We gonna throw in 1984 and Equilibrium too?
2006-11-15, 6:54 AM #16
I don't remember either of those dealing with genetic-engineering, just strict personal-training. Brave New World is the only one that addresses the problems associated with altering the genetic coding of unborn humans.
omnia mea mecum porto
2006-11-15, 7:51 AM #17
I just watched Gattaca (for a final exam.. whoop!).

It dealt with screening all of the embryos, and then selecting the one with the least chance of diseases.

So, Emon, you're wrong. In a few generations, genetic diseases wouldn't be irradicated. There would still be predispositions. However small they may be, they would still exist. And besides, some embryos would always be more healthy and superior to others.

Good movie though.
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2006-11-15, 8:22 AM #18
I don't oppose the elimination of genetic diseases, but, beyond that, I'd be opposed to it.
the idiot is the person who follows the idiot and your not following me your insulting me your following the path of a idiot so that makes you the idiot - LC Tusken
2006-11-15, 11:34 AM #19
I'll be happy when they eliminate the gene that causes blackness.
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2006-11-15, 11:36 AM #20
Anything that turns Ernest Borgnine into a janitor gets my vote.
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2006-11-15, 12:12 PM #21
Originally posted by Freelancer:
No more genetic diseases sounds A-OK to me. I can't imagine why anyone would be against that.


Baaaad idea. From a biology standpoint, no less. Never want to head to an evolutionary bottleneck.

I just want to say there are other concerns than moral at work here.
2006-11-15, 12:15 PM #22
Evolution has already served its purpose when a species has evolved to the point where it can render evolution obselete, don't you think?
"it is time to get a credit card to complete my financial independance" — Tibby, Aug. 2009
2006-11-15, 12:34 PM #23
Man I read this as

"First GATTACA-style babies porn"

>.<
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2006-11-15, 2:03 PM #24
Scary :(
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2006-11-15, 5:49 PM #25
Originally posted by TimeWolfOfThePast:
Anything that turns Ernest Borgnine into a janitor gets my vote.


WHAT?
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2006-11-15, 6:01 PM #26
...Borgnine was a janitor in Gattaca. Was it really that hard to get?
omnia mea mecum porto
2006-11-15, 9:03 PM #27
Oh boy...
2006-11-15, 9:04 PM #28
Oh boy...eugenics...
2006-11-17, 10:22 AM #29
Originally posted by Roach:
...Borgnine was a janitor in Gattaca. Was it really that hard to get?


Yeah I figured something like that but I just decided to go with my initial reaction for comedy value.
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2006-11-17, 11:15 AM #30
You think I give a damn [about a Grammy?]

This is fascinating stuff, all positives and negatives aside.
2006-11-17, 12:48 PM #31
Originally posted by Emon:
A short period of discrimination, perhaps, over the next few generations until we start breeding normally again when all the nasty genes have been weeded out.

There's no reason to fear a smarter, more capable generation as the result of genetic engineering. No reason other than your own inferiority complex.


I don't necessarily see the point on improving anything other than genetic diseases (well, getting rid of them rather). The world needs dumb people.
2006-11-17, 2:02 PM #32
So that they can fail at school and go to Iraq! :v:

But, yes. Anything beyond remove of genetic defects strike me as dangerous territory - the whole "slippery slope" ordeal.
the idiot is the person who follows the idiot and your not following me your insulting me your following the path of a idiot so that makes you the idiot - LC Tusken
2006-11-17, 2:33 PM #33
Originally posted by Impi:
Pfft, soma will make everyone happy anyway. Why resist?


I'm so glad I'm not a Gamma.
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2006-11-18, 4:19 AM #34
Originally posted by Wolfy:
So that they can fail at school and go to Iraq! :v:

No, so they can come to Massassi and whine about people making fun of them :psyduck:
2006-11-18, 6:04 AM #35
Originally posted by Freelancer:
Evolution has already served its purpose when a species has evolved to the point where it can render evolution obselete, don't you think?


Can we?

We live in a rare period of relatively stable climate, it's well-known that displayed evolutionary changes all but stop during these periods. But we're still evolving in a non-displayed way. A massive environmental change (which we are long overdue) would open the evolutionary floodgates. Unless we can alter our genome to handle extreme cold, extreme heat, massive amounts of radiation etc I don't think we've yet got what it takes to stop natural evolution.
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2006-11-18, 9:33 AM #36
I actually know a person like this. We call her a test tube baby, her name is Mae. Apparently she had like 10 sisters, but they all died. She was made from DNA from her parents though, so it's all good. As my friend Jordan put it, "where are the other 9 Maes?!"

It also probably explains why she is uh...out there. :p
2006-11-18, 9:48 AM #37
Originally posted by Detty:
Can we?

We live in a rare period of relatively stable climate, it's well-known that displayed evolutionary changes all but stop during these periods. But we're still evolving in a non-displayed way. A massive environmental change (which we are long overdue) would open the evolutionary floodgates. Unless we can alter our genome to handle extreme cold, extreme heat, massive amounts of radiation etc I don't think we've yet got what it takes to stop natural evolution.



I could do it with enough nukes. :cool:
2006-11-18, 10:03 AM #38
Originally posted by Detty:
...handle extreme cold, extreme heat, massive amounts of radiation etc...


The future of humanity:
Attachment: 14596/200532_156419_4_006.jpg (8,274 bytes)
the idiot is the person who follows the idiot and your not following me your insulting me your following the path of a idiot so that makes you the idiot - LC Tusken

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