Gene editing can make us different, but not better
The genetic change, even if it worked as advertised, would not be a clear-cut improvement but a trade-off
tion to make people in some way better able to serve corporations or the state.
There are some legitimately bad genes, and scientists are working on so-called gene therapy to help people who’ve inherited them. But there are already safe ways for genetic diseases to be avoided, rather than edited. If people want to have children biologically and know they carry a mutation that puts their offspring at risk for a serious genetic disease, they can opt for something called pre-implantation diagnosis. This is genetic testing of embryos produced to ensure only ones without the deleterious mutation are implanted.
There are rare cases where genes can be both common and seemingly undesirable. One of these is a gene called ApoE4. Scientists studying a South American hunter-gatherer group called the Tsimane found that people with ApoE4 had a lower risk of Alzheimer’s – the opposite of the effect on typical subjects – but only if they also had certain parasites. Because most Tsimane people had parasites, ApoE4 was beneficial. This opens up the possibility that in the future, scientists will have figured out how to simulate the effect of parasites, and people with one or two copies of ApoE4 will be at less risk than the rest of us.
Life on earth has been evolving for 3.8 billion years and yet our planet has yet to produce a perfect species. That won’t stop people from trying. It seems inevitable that someone will eventually try to sell people genetic tweaks to give their kids a higher IQ. Who knows? Such a thing might make some of us quicker, but probably not wiser. I recently read an article on a celebrity wedding, full of self- opinionated disrespect. It initiated my contemplation on the cynics of the world. Cynics often come across as derisive, insolent, and condescending. Consequently, they miss out on spontaneous relationships and friendships. Cynicism can be manifested with pessimism, leading to social disengagement and negative contributions to the public domain. The line between cynicism and accurate observation