Posted by Kromey at 1:29pm Sep 29 '10Genetic manipulation, that is. Advanced science to repair cell damage, etc., less so, but there are still some pitfalls there as well*.
Anyway, returning to genetic manipulation, the danger here is actually not at all unlike Gattaca: you risk creating a society in which you have the so-called "designer babies" as the upper-class citizens, and the "love children" as the segregated lower-class. Most likely this will rise out of the almost certain fact that when this technology finally arrives, only the rich will be able to afford it, and thus the designer babies are the rich upper-class.
Additionally, you've now added a real physical confirmation to their "I'm better than the lower class", thus adding a sort of caste system on top of this social divide, making it a real physical barrier that non-designer babies are simply incapable of crossing.
The only way to prevent that would be to ensure that everyone can get it, which all but requires a massive "nanny state" cooing over every need of its citizens. But, even so, you have the nations which simply can't afford this, so you still have the same caste system created (but now it's one that can be used to justify international wars and atrocities), in addition to the fact that many people within such a state would still refuse to have their babies altered like this, so you still have the same social divide within the state as well -- it's just a somewhat smaller lower-class this time, which makes it even easier to practice prejudice against them.
To prevent that, the government can step in and take full control over child rearing -- and that's something I don't even want to consider happening. Even so, you might eliminate the caste divide within your country, but you still have the other states that can't afford this, and their citizens would literally have no way to immigrate to a wealthier country and climb the social ladder -- they would be stopped cold at the limits of their caste.
Sure, you could pass laws to make it illegal to discriminate based on whether or not a person is a designer baby, but take a look around you: We have science that has proven that there's no real differences (in terms of capabilities) between the races, and yet everywhere you go there is still racial prejudice despite it being illegal for decades. Now we're creating a new race that science itself agrees is genetically superior; do we honestly expect that there won't be more and stronger racial prejudice if there's actual science to back it up? Take a look back at Nazi Germany -- their "scientists" produced "studies" that "proved" that Aryans were superior and Jews inferior, and look how that turned out.
* As one example, an idea floated not just within sci-fi circles but also within hard science is medical nanobots within our bodies to e.g. seek out and destroy cancer cells; in a less restricted capacity, they could exist within our bodies over the long term, repairing damage as it occurs and self-replicating to replace their numbers that break down. That's where it gets dangerous -- one little glitch in that self-replicating logic and they could get out of control, consuming everything in sight and replicating exponentially, the rate of consumption of course increasing exponentially as well; eventually, they literally consume the entire world.
I'm not making this up, this is a real doomsday scenario usually called "gray goo".
Anyway, returning to genetic manipulation, the danger here is actually not at all unlike Gattaca: you risk creating a society in which you have the so-called "designer babies" as the upper-class citizens, and the "love children" as the segregated lower-class. Most likely this will rise out of the almost certain fact that when this technology finally arrives, only the rich will be able to afford it, and thus the designer babies are the rich upper-class.
Additionally, you've now added a real physical confirmation to their "I'm better than the lower class", thus adding a sort of caste system on top of this social divide, making it a real physical barrier that non-designer babies are simply incapable of crossing.
The only way to prevent that would be to ensure that everyone can get it, which all but requires a massive "nanny state" cooing over every need of its citizens. But, even so, you have the nations which simply can't afford this, so you still have the same caste system created (but now it's one that can be used to justify international wars and atrocities), in addition to the fact that many people within such a state would still refuse to have their babies altered like this, so you still have the same social divide within the state as well -- it's just a somewhat smaller lower-class this time, which makes it even easier to practice prejudice against them.
To prevent that, the government can step in and take full control over child rearing -- and that's something I don't even want to consider happening. Even so, you might eliminate the caste divide within your country, but you still have the other states that can't afford this, and their citizens would literally have no way to immigrate to a wealthier country and climb the social ladder -- they would be stopped cold at the limits of their caste.
Sure, you could pass laws to make it illegal to discriminate based on whether or not a person is a designer baby, but take a look around you: We have science that has proven that there's no real differences (in terms of capabilities) between the races, and yet everywhere you go there is still racial prejudice despite it being illegal for decades. Now we're creating a new race that science itself agrees is genetically superior; do we honestly expect that there won't be more and stronger racial prejudice if there's actual science to back it up? Take a look back at Nazi Germany -- their "scientists" produced "studies" that "proved" that Aryans were superior and Jews inferior, and look how that turned out.
* As one example, an idea floated not just within sci-fi circles but also within hard science is medical nanobots within our bodies to e.g. seek out and destroy cancer cells; in a less restricted capacity, they could exist within our bodies over the long term, repairing damage as it occurs and self-replicating to replace their numbers that break down. That's where it gets dangerous -- one little glitch in that self-replicating logic and they could get out of control, consuming everything in sight and replicating exponentially, the rate of consumption of course increasing exponentially as well; eventually, they literally consume the entire world.
I'm not making this up, this is a real doomsday scenario usually called "gray goo".
That's a very treacherous road to be going down - Kromey