Galt's Gulch

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  • Posted by $ jbrenner 9 years, 8 months ago
    One of my freshmen groups in my Introduction to Chemical Engineering I class did a presentation on CRISPR gene editing technology for their end of semester project in December.

    As for the Nobel Prize winners, I will tell them to BUZZ OFF! If I want to edit genes and teach others to do the same, then so be it. That is about 5% of my nanotechnology minor program listed in the Marketplace.

    And yes, we do discuss the ethical implications of what we do.
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    • Posted by $ AJAshinoff 9 years, 8 months ago
      I would love to sit-in on an ethical conversation on a topic like this. The possibility that things like downs syndrome, bi-polarity, Anemia, diabetes, multiple sclerosis, and more could be eliminated by adjusting someone genetics prior to birth is a no-brainer and amazing. But the idea that people can customize the traits of their children - muscle density, brain speed, hair/eye color, sex, sexual disposition really raises some moral/ethical issues that will have to be faced.

      All things considered, what parent would allow their child to be born with an affliction when they it could be taken from them? How much would someone, some company, require as compensation to perform the necessary manipulation to make the next Michael Jordan, the next Albert Einstein, the next Billy Graham, the next Ronald Reagan OR the next Hitler?
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      • Posted by $ jbrenner 9 years, 8 months ago
        We discussed this topic for 5-10 minutes last Wednesday in my nanotech lecture. The exam I just gave had a question on protein misfolding disorders (Alzheimer's in this case). Hitler did come up; after all, he was a eugenicist.
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        • Posted by $ AJAshinoff 9 years, 8 months ago
          The idea that behaviors can be shaped by genetics is an intriguing one. Sure, environment plays a role (Boys from Brazil) but genetic predisposition to violence, ambition, and compliance is frightening to consider. As we have a fraud, a mOle if you would, in the White House, how much of a stretch is it to think that the governing elite wouldn't provide a mechanism to inoculate or prenatally tweak genes to be subservient to ensure their "elitism". When choice is limited by genetic predisposition are we still subject to free will?

          Amazing subject, food for someone like me to weave wild stories.
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  • Posted by Zenphamy 9 years, 8 months ago
    I'm convinced that the barn doors been open too long already. The application of this can't be stopped, only driven underground. As if we don't already have enough of a black market.
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  • Posted by $ AJAshinoff 9 years, 8 months ago
    Slippery slope. Reminds me of an article I wrote about X-Men Last Stand comparing the storyline to homosexuality in the sense that if it was generically correctable (it were a genetic or chemical deficiency) would homosexuals opt for the cure.
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