Recent stock picks indicate I am no oracle, but I think it's safe to predict the future is going to be weird.
I theorize the next generation of humans will:
- implant computers in their bodies to access entertainment
- have android girlfriends/boyfriends that can cook, clean or "make love" but not all three
- make delicious cheeses out of human toe bacteria
- upload the brains of worms into toys
- alter the DNA of human embryos to give rich, ugly parents beautiful babies
OK, two of those have already happened, and I am OK with all of them. Human progress shouldn't be slowed by ethical concerns because the least ethical among us don't bother following the rules anyway.
That doesn't mean I want a proliferation of sterile, three-parent babies , but science is the best shot humanity has at eliminating disease or otherwise improving itself.
If the U.S. bans something, say human cloning, I can assure you highly-skilled scientists (and quacks) will go where the laws are less strict and it will still happen anyway.
In China, where they're busy cracking down on strippers at funerals , they're also considering cracking down on scientists who tinker with human embryos. The Telegraph tells us scientists there have "shocked the world" by editing the DNA of human embryos for the first time, a practice banned most everywhere else.
Critics calling for a worldwide ban on the practice warn China is the ‘Wild West’ of genetic research and may be working on "designer children."
“It is critical that we avoid a eugenic future in which the rich can buy themselves a baby with built-in genetic advantages," said Human Genetics Alert Director, Dr David King.
The scientists who did the genetic editing said they were working on how to eliminate a fatal blood disorder and were using non-viable embryos. The scientists have abandoned their project, but at least four other groups in China are believed to be currently working on genetically modifying human embryos.
Call me unethical if you must, but designer babies aren't high on my list of things that may eventually destroy humanity.
More news I ran across on the journey across the Interwebs:
