Humans to be genetically-modified in Europe for the first time this year using g
65 replies, posted
I always wondered how much our lifespan can be stretched as technology and medicine gets better. What once was an achievement now it was doubled.
But eh, not everything looks nice in a future with a 140 years lifespan. You would have to search and keep a job stable for 100 years, and I bet you that you would start to see 70 years old men doing graffitis of that pointy S symbol we all saw in mid-high school to prove their youth.
100 year old us be eating tide pods in the future
The idea that a superhuman class could be created based on wealth is a threat for sure, but if I had to choose between a future where some people are better than others versus a future where people still have to suffer from congenital diseases (me, my brother), with people who are simply born without limbs (my mother), or where kids get killed by freak onsets of cancer or straight up drop dead in the middle of band practice from a funky blood vessel in their brain (two friends from highschool), then I think I'd prefer the future where at least everyone has an opportunity to live with a functional body.
Many are worried about becoming a genetic underclass, but there already is one, in a certain way. Instead of being selected based on wealth, it's just random fuckin' chance.
And it's a pretty slim difference between the "classes" right now
You can give up if you want but I think we should strive to eliminate aging just like we do for cancer. To avoid it is literally suicidal but we've been beaten down into accepting it as a good thing by our lack of any actual choice, like an abused housewife or hostage. Couldn't we apply your "must" mantra to genetic conditions like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's? Our fucked financial systems are going to lead to increasing class divide regardless of whether we pursue genetic engineering or not.
Damn the consequences when the alternative is your loved ones dying around you.
I agree, but we'd also have to be extremely concerned with genetic diversity. Otherwise we'll end up with the Monsanto problem, where all the wheat in the world is exactly the same, genetically. And we're looking at an extraordinary famine if some superbug for that strain of wheat comes along and nukes our food supply. If we did the same thing with humans we're looking at something worse still.
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