[ExI] Fwd: Dope was Re: state of conflict technology

[William Flynn Wallace]

I agree with all of what you say.  But I am looking into the future maybe a
hundred or more years ahead.  Now we know little and should be cautious,
but you will never have a situation where you can predict the outcome of
meddling with genes perfectly.  Never.  We will be experimenting on
babies.  Period.  I don't know of any other way to gain the knowledge.

bill w

On Mon, Jan 13, 2020 at 6:53 PM Dave Sill <sparge at gmail.com> wrote:

> On Mon, Jan 13, 2020 at 5:47 PM William Flynn Wallace via extropy-chat <
> extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:
>
>> I think we now know how to prevent cystic fibrosis.  Any scientific
>>> procedure can have unintended complications, but morally I would go ahead
>>> and prevent it.  Wouldn't you?
>>>
>>
> As a hypothetical, sure. Obviously nobody wants anyone to have CF. And
> that may be one of the low-hanging fruit, where the genetic cause clear and
> simple and the downsides clearly outweigh any potential upsides. But there
> are thousands of illnesses caused by genetic defects, and many have
> multiple contributing genetic factors and the downsides are much less dire.
> E.g., something like a disposition towards vitiligo, which is mostly
> cosmetic...say fixing it turns out to have some bad side effect later in
> life like increased Alzheimer's risk.
>
>
>> And natural selection is so very slow.  After all, barring some truly
>>> impossible event, humans are here to stay.
>>>
>>
> Just because it hasn't happened yet doesn't mean it's impossible. And if
> poorly thought out genetic mods break something, it could be more likely.
>
>
>> Offspring not making it to maturity and not passing on genes is likely to
>>> do little to extinguish those genes - too many people around with them.
>>>
>>
> Well, that's exactly how natural selection works. Bad genes die out all
> the time.
>
>
>>   As for mutations, I don't know what you are talking about.  I was
>>> talking about known diseases to eliminate.
>>>
>>
> Genetic changes are the origin of the genetic flaws that cause genetic
> diseases. Mutations are also the source of genetic changes that result in
> improvements. Do we want a stagnant gene pool, or do we want the kind of
> diversity that's worked for millions of years?
>
> If we knew the human genome inside and out and knew all of the upsides and
> downsides to edits, that would be one thing. But we're still mostly in the
> dark. It's too soon to make self-editing routine.
>
> -Dave
>
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