The "Gattaca Age" Has Officially Begun

[georged]

It was only a matter of time, of course:
http://www.bbc.com/news/health-40802147

 

[jvnshr]

I had a friend who smoked cigarettes all the time. When I asked him about quitting, he said "Why? I am only 30 years old and in 30 years from now on any internal organ replacement is going to be possible, so no worries."

 

[pappymac]

Maybe the can alter the DNA that makes people become politicians.

 

[phantomwolf]

Excellent! I'm for it. I'm actually in favour of full-on cloning. We could raise entire crops of Emily Blunt and Jessica Biel.

 

[jpmcwjr]

Charlize Theron and Naomi Watts, please!

 

[mso489]

If we don't blow ourselves to perdition in the meantime, I think many replacement organs are coming close to reality. I have a friend who is on dialysis because he's aged out of eligibility for a kidney replacement. In the foreseeable future, it looks like they can grow you one of your own, no donor required, no particular scarcity. Sometimes these things "within reach" never arrive, but this looks quite possible.

 

[deathmetal]

For now, our genetic editing will be aimed at correcting errors.
In the future, you can have designer babies.
Either that, or people are going to slam the lid on all of this modern nonsense.
Or maybe we'll blow ourselves up.

 

[brian64]

This is probably the first time many people are hearing about CRISPR (I love these acronyms they come up with). DNA editing, splicing, copying, pasting. Nothing to worry about there...the Eugenicist Elite are in charge. Sleep well.

 

[jmatt]

This is my son's field, and remember CRISPR CAS9. It'll be a household term soon. We joke that my son is already better at being God than God is. (ducks lightning bolt).

 

[aldecaker]

Unless the Eugenicist Elite are trying to perfect useless dipshits, they haven't accomplished dick so far.

 

[brian64]

Dysgenicists would really be the more accurate term.
EDIT: It will ultimately be about control, not perfection. And even if perfection was the aim, it's misguided imo.

 

[aldecaker]

Well, apparently the dysgenicists have been having unbounded success.

 

[brian64]

Indeed they have.

 

[hobie1dog]

They can't perfect this fast enough for me. We need this for sure, and maybe they can eventually eliminate Boofers.

 

[weezell]

My theory has always been "Watch what you ask for,You might just get it." :twisted:

 

[phantomwolf]

They can't perfect this fast enough for me. We need this for sure, and maybe they can eventually eliminate Boofers.

Laughed out loud at that one.

 

[hobie1dog]

I thought about you when I rode past Booferville today( WalMart)$

 

[brian64]

They can't perfect this fast enough for me.

Hobie, if something like this could help someone like you it’d be wonderful, and I hope it does. Unfortunately I just don’t think that’s where things are headed. We’re on a Brave New World trajectory, and have been for a long time now.
Technology is neutral. But how it is ultimately used and who gets access to it are other questions entirely.

 

[pipesmokingtom]

The only issue I see with this is that it will only be available to the very wealthy, giving only them the opportunity to have "problem free" babies.

 

[perdurabo]

I had a friend who smoked cigarettes all the time. When I asked him about quitting, he said "Why? I am only 30 years old and in 30 years from now on any internal organ replacement is going to be possible, so no worries."

Tell your friend this only works when we still have competitive Health Insuance.
I can see this turning people into mutants, looking like a Total Recall extravaganza.