Genetic engineering

[Spooby]

I'm interested in everyone's political thoughts on genetic engineering. There are so many things happening right now with CRISPR technology, it seems to be way to think by the year 2040 there'll be a plethora of pharmaceutical applications and the regulations that come with it all. Imagine what kinds of things we may be capable of in the near future with the use of computers.

What can I learn from you as I dive into the field?

Thank you!

 

[x11]

You can learn that if you accidentally leave the lab with some little friends that got out of the test tube on you then you could potentially end all life as we know it.

 

[Michael Scally MD]

[OA] In Vivo Target Gene Activation via CRISPR/Cas9-Mediated Trans-Epigenetic Modulation [Follistatin]

Phenotypic Enhancement of Muscle Mass Induced by In Vivo CRISPR/Cas9 TGA

Myostatin

 

[flenser]

My political thoughts are that governments will make a mess of things as usual. But the genetic Pandora's box is already open. I'm sure the ADA will be lobbying governments to ban PEGM, that is Performance Enhancing Genetic Mods : )

 

[Michael Scally MD]

 

[Thaistick]

Well that was hilarious and terrifying.

 

[picholas]

Bring it on

 

[MarioKnightLabs]

So The Walking Dead is going to be a real stuff in the future?
I'd better be prepared..

 

[MindlessWork]

My take on genetic engineering is that it has its good uses and should never be used for evil ends aka "Brave New World" or "1984". Genetic engineering in humans should be limited to fixing genetic disorders or fighting cancer.

 

[flenser]

So The Walking Dead is going to be a real stuff in the future?
I'd better be prepared..

In the future? My morning commute is already full of zombies.

 

[Mac11wildcat]

Short answer? Humans can’t be trusted with this technology. We fuck everything up, because when you start seeing these sorts of techs become medical and civilian you can be sure it has already been weaponized/militarized.

 

[flenser]

My take on genetic engineering is that it has its good uses and should never be used for evil ends aka "Brave New World" or "1984". Genetic engineering in humans should be limited to fixing genetic disorders or fighting cancer.

If it exists, it will be used for whatever ends the powerful want to pursue. The most likely applications will be immune system mods to embryos. There has already been some limited human testing with very little coverage by the media. Somewhat more common, and completely legal AFAIK, is embryo selection via in vitro fertilization. This is often to select candidates that lack genetic defects common in the family line, but it is also used for more vane reasons..

Dr. Jeffrey Steinberg of The Fertility Institutes sells PGD for sex selection, is again starting to sell a choice of eye color and plans to offer more traits.

I personally have no problem with it. It beats the alternative of selective abortions which I believe is also legal.

edit: It just occurred to me, having two older brothers and no sisters, I wonder if I would be here if that option had been available at the time : )

 

[Michael Scally MD]

The DIY designer baby project funded with Bitcoin
The DIY designer baby project funded with Bitcoin

For a few years now, Bishop, a 29-year-old programmer and Bitcoin investor, has been leaving a trail of comments about human “enhancement” on the web. He’s a transhumanist, which means he thinks humans can be improved in profound ways by technology. He’d long exhorted others to do something about the human condition.

Now, he had decided to do it himself.

According to the e-mail, sent in May, Bishop and his partner in the enterprise, Max Berry, a former biotech company lab scientist, were “starting a company focused on the production of designer babies and human germline genetic engineering.” He noted that “lab work has started” and “we have an initial parent-couple customer.”

He said he wanted ethics advice to help win the endorsement of a prominent geneticist, George Church of Harvard University, whose tally of potential genetic enhancements—a scroll of genes with names like PCSK9 and CCR5, presented in dozens of talks—has been called the “wish list” for a post-human era.

Bishop’s hope is to make these possibilities real. A COPY OF HIS BUSINESS PROPOSAL SAYS HIS VENTURE PLANS TO LET PARENTS HAVE TRANSGENIC CHILDREN WHO CAN “GROW MUSCLE WITHOUT WEIGHTLIFTING,” WHO POSSESS GENES FROM LONG-LIVED “SUPERCENTENARIANS,” OR WHO ARE ENDOWED WITH THE AB+ BLOOD TYPE, MEANING THEY COULD RECEIVE A TRANSFUSION FROM ANYONE.

While new guidelines and public scolding may keep professional scientists with government grants in check, they don’t help with people like Bishop, a “relatively well-known ‘Do-It-Yourself biohacker’” (according to his résumé) who has spent thousands of dollars on furthering his own vision for adding genetic superpowers to newborns.

Several weeks ago, a concerned individual sent me a copy of fund-raising slides outlining Bishop’s business proposal, which contains projections of billions in revenue from creating hundreds of thousands of enhanced babies. This person, who asked to remain anonymous, was unsure whether it was “bullshit” or “horrifyingly plausible.” The individual expressed concern that transhumanists were going to try to put their ideas for improving the species into action, and felt it was time to blow the whistle on Bishop.

According to Bishop’s slides, designer humans wouldn’t be created as they were in China, by injecting gene-editing molecules into an egg at the moment of fertilization. Instead, in a hack that will make your eyes cross, the proposal envisions performing gene therapy on the testicles of a male volunteer. That way, sperm carrying DNA enhancements could be used to get a woman pregnant. According to the plan, Bishop and Berry think that with $2 million, they can move quickly from animal tests to a first volunteer. “Outcome: First human with transgenic sperm, and we begin taking pre-orders,” says the funding slide.

…

 

[Morefyah]

I'm interested in everyone's political thoughts on genetic engineering. There are so many things happening right now with CRISPR technology, it seems to be way to think by the year 2040 there'll be a plethora of pharmaceutical applications and the regulations that come with it all. Imagine what kinds of things we may be capable of in the near future with the use of computers.

What can I learn from you as I dive into the field?

Thank you!

The main issue with crisper is if this becomes mainstream. Which I doubt will ever happen mostly because of religious traditions. But If this becomes the norm around the world and these babies with altered dna start breading with each other. It’s going to be a global shit show with sick bio engineered babies everywhere.

 

[The Terminator]

Nature can always reset anything humans do, or it can just hurl another asteroid if things get too f’d for a complete reset. Maybe cause a nearby star to go supernova: I remember reading about a star going nova, apparently if it were a few light years closer it could have completely expelled the entire atmosphere into space. So yea nature can always step in and no human can stop it.