alt Hacker NewsThis is just one step away from eugenics. When the data is in the machine, you just know it will be used for malicious activities.
Replies
Eugenics was rebranded "Genetics" after the war.
You say it like applying that label automatically makes it a bad thing.
See https://www.astralcodexten.com/p/galton-ehrlich-buck for an elaboration.
That's why at-home sequencing should become the norm.
But to be fair, I see no issues with genetic testing of embryos that could still be aborted. If a person would grow up with a serious illness it could be considered. But then genetic modification should be accessible too, to preserve the life but update the code.
We're turning into bananas.
> Almost all commercially sold bananas (the Cavendish variety) are exact genetic clones
We shouldn't let biology and genetics be forever kept hostage by the fact that 100 years ago some racists (who did not even know what DNA was) used crude mechanisms like castration to push their specific forms of social engineering.
There is a lot of potential problems written into your exome, and some of them can be prevented. Treating a condition which has already taken hold is much more complicated and often less successful. Personalized medicine is pretty much the only way forward nowadays.
Is it malicious to abort a baby before it has a heartbeat at six weeks because it will have Downs syndrome?
there's nothing wrong with eugenics as long as it isn't forced.
yes, yes, the Nazis did it. and Hitler was a vegan dog dad.
The problem is "eugenics" has two meanings which is unhelpful for this discussion.
1) criminal practices of forced sterilisations, ethnic cleansing and mass assassinations to phase out undesired genes
2) the more generic practice of trying to improve the genetic characteristics of your children.
I don't think there is much point in debating 1). But we would be naive to think we are not already doing 2). What else is a prenatal test for down syndrome? What else is selecting your mating partner for desirable characteristics? In animals it's called breeding and it works pretty well. And if you can patch the DNA of your kids to remove potential risks of cancers or other deficiencies, why wouldn't you? Is it better to let cancer take its toll?