alt Hacker NewsI am worried about the long term impact of research involving human conception, IVF, etc.
The reason is that genetics/evolution don't yet seem to fully explain how humans exist. A computer genetic algorithm run for a billion generations doesn't lead to anything anywhere near the the complexity of a human.
I suspect there are as-yet undiscovered effects which shape the next generation. Whether that be DNA methylation, gut bacteria passing from mother to child, selection of the 'correct' egg or sperm out of millions, or something new and un-discovered etc.
And if those effects are bypassed with artificial conception, we might end up with humans which aren't as strong, aren't as smart, aren't as well adapted to a changing environment, etc.
The effect will be small for each generation, but after 5-10 generations of a combination of artificial and natural conception you could end up with meaningful loss of fitness - or perhaps a lack of gain of fitness that would have otherwise occurred.
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> humans which aren't as strong, aren't as smart, aren't as well adapted to a changing environment, etc.
But can they pay and vote? If yes, that is good enough for the people calling the shots.
You’re layering several hypotheticals on top of each other, which leads to progressively distant possibilities. Good on you for caring about humans though
Very interesting...maybe this is another great filter preventing a species from becoming multi planetary or expanding beyond a type 0 civilization?
>I am worried about the long term impact of research involving human conception, IVF, etc.
You'd have a rather different opinion if you had to squeeze out a water melon out of your genitals.
> A computer genetic algorithm run for a billion generations doesn't lead to anything anywhere near the the complexity of a human.
What?... Our computers can't simulate anything similar to a real world. You're comparing apples to galaxies.
> meaningful loss of fitness
What makes you think we don't have "loss of fitness" already?
150 years ago child mortality was around 30% in the developed world, now it's less than 1%. A lot of kids with weak health survive now. I'm one of them - I got pneumonia when I was ~2 y.o. and probably would have died without antibiotics. Then I had something which required antibiotic treatment pretty much every year. My wife also had a pneumonia in early childhood. And so did my daughter...
Why do we need to talk about some mysterious problem in 10 generations when modern medicine removes a lot of fitness pressure by itself?
> but after 5-10 generations of a combination of artificial and natural conception you could end up with meaningful loss of fitness
Yes, if we end up in some corner-case dystopia where evolution and natural selection continue to be in charge of fitness. But evolution and natural selection bring much suffering to the unlucky. In other words, if you go to a hospital, you'll quickly learn there's far more human suffering caused by God and Nature than by the "cruelty of man". Though common sense is never assured victory, I look forward to a world where our children live healthier and longer lives due to us properly messing with God and Nature.
>The reason is that genetics/evolution don't yet seem to fully explain how humans exist. A computer genetic algorithm run for a billion generations doesn't lead to anything anywhere near the the complexity of a human.
I didn't have "creationism" as the top answer to a HN post in 2026, yet here we are...
That's a lot of words to act like a total tool towards people born from IVF and their parents.
>The effect will be small for each generation, but after 5-10 generations of a combination of artificial and natural conception
How do you know it? Sci-fi tropes are not a good argument.
25% of humans died before reaching 5 in 1800s US, today it is <1%. Its been at least 5 generations since this value dropped dramatically.
We have not ended up with "humans which aren't as strong, aren't as smart, aren't as well adapted to a changing environment, etc."