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Baby is healed with first personalized gene-editing treatment

(www.nytimes.com)
1163 points jbredeche | 4 comments | 15 May 25 18:06 UTC | HN request time: 0.642s | source
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morkalork ◴[15 May 25 19:55 UTC] No.43998684[source]▶
I think it was here a few years ago that I read a comment saying that sick children will be the Trojan horse for normalizing gene editing of humans, because who could say no to sick children, right? Well, guess it's here now, so how long utill the eugenics wars start?
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1. dekhn ◴[15 May 25 20:29 UTC] No.43998996[source]▶
it's unclear the outcome of this will be eugenics wars.

Answering the real question- it's unlikely these techniques will see widespread "recreational" usage any time soon, as they come with a wide range of risks. Further, the scientific community has learned a lot from previous eugenics programs; anything that happens in the future will happen with both social and political regulation.

It's ultimately hard to predict- many science fiction writers have speculated about this for some time, and social opinion can change quickly when people see new developments.

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2. NoMoreNicksLeft ◴[15 May 25 21:05 UTC] No.43999326[source]▶
The problem won't be that there will be those who want to have babies with edited genomes, and those who oppose that.

It will be that people just don't have children at all.

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3. morkalork ◴[15 May 25 21:15 UTC] No.43999407[source]▶
That's part of why the trojan horse works so well, what is an unacceptable risk for someone healthy can easily be acceptable for someone with an otherwise untreatable condition. Then by the experience and knowledge gained, it becomes less risky for everyone.
4. beeflet ◴[16 May 25 01:00 UTC] No.44000847[source]▶
I think one reason why people won't have children is the gene-editing and the IVF that is coming. Nothing is left to chance, or to god any more. Having children is now a clinical affair. It's spiritually void.