[HN Gopher] The untold story of 'circle of trust' behind world's... ___________________________________________________________________ The untold story of 'circle of trust' behind world's first gene- edited babies Author : walterbell Score : 21 points Date : 2021-01-30 05:42 UTC (1 days ago) (HTM) web link (www.sciencemag.org) (TXT) w3m dump (www.sciencemag.org) | little_panda wrote: | I'm feeling bewitched by this entire story of rejection of He | Jiankui. Could someone here please describe in layman's terms | what's wrong with the _ethics_ of germline editing? | | Edit: yes it's gonna be crazy expensive and 10+ years will pass | before the tech is ready for mass use, I realize that. | Nasrudith wrote: | I got downvoted for expressing this opinion before but the only | real issues are implementation related. | | #1: The technology isn't mature enough and has some | "mistargetting" that adds or deletes where it shouldn't. | | #2: It is a reckless disregard for human life to not do | generational animal trials before humans. If we cannot say make | mice redfurred or immune to a mouse disease without major side | effects like vastly increased cancer risk doing so in humans is | unconscionable.* | | *Medical ethics has a bit of weirdness in that if someone is | certainly doomed otherwise it is more permissible to try | something crazy. | | If we could accessibly edit DNA mistakes with no more risk or | difficulty than say preventing blood type mismatch related | miscarriage then it having a few people with "bad traits | carried onto offspring" wouldn't be a big deal. | | It is often en vogue to complain about it cementing a class | divide but under that logic education is unethical because it | priveledges those who can afford it over those who cannot. | ficklepickle wrote: | Your attempt at whataboutism failed. | | It is not at all equivalent. In developed countries, | education is accessible to most or all. (The USA is not a | developed country by this measure) | | If you aren't worried about humanity splitting into multiple | species along economic lines, I don't know what to tell you. | I guess the film Gattaca was just a fun romp for you? I guess | you must assume you will be one of the "haves" and to hell | with everyone else, if you get yours? | ficklepickle wrote: | We don't know all the potential implications. These genes will | be passed on to their children. What if it causes disease? | | Not to mention the splitting of humanity into separate species, | based on wealth. | | It is a whole mess of ethical concerns. I am astonished that | you can't see that. | JesseMReeves wrote: | Human overconfidence about sums it up. | mechEpleb wrote: | It boils down to the fact that there are large potential (if | improbable) downsides to messing with DNA, and people have a | strong cognitive bias against actively inflicting harm vis a | vis just allowing harm to happen on its own. | | I personally don't think it's possible to prevent this kind of | thing in the long term, so everything ranging from edited | children born with horrible disabilities to deleting some | potentially beneficial mutation paths in the human genome from | existence is going to happen anyway. | 1996 wrote: | People don't like that it's permanent, and transmitted. | | If you have money, you can make your kids AIDS (and Cholera, | and Smallpox) resistant. | | They see that as "unfair", and conveniently forget money buy | high education and network. | | Some other people disagree for religious reason - they say it's | "playing god", but I do not understand their arguments. | Humanity has done selective breeding for centuries, and nobody | ever complained. | | It's just doing the same with better methods, as the CCR5 | mutation discussed in the article was not created by humans, | but naturally selected. | gmfawcett wrote: | > Humanity has done selective breeding for centuries, and | nobody ever complained. | | Nobody has ever complained about eugenics? About master races | vs. inferior breeds of human, or about hereditary caste | systems? I think you need to brush up on your history before | making such claims. | 1996 wrote: | > After his talk, He immediately drove back to Shenzhen, and his | circle of trust began to disintegrate | | Sad to see how the West keep pushing it's agenda and values down | the throat of other countries. | | Hopefully China will keep advancing science, while the West goes | into another dark age due to its religions. | cat199 wrote: | > Hopefully China will keep advancing science, while the West | goes into another dark age due to its religions. | | .. given this and the uighur thing, they certainly do seem to | have a knack for atheist eugenics. Opium of the masses and the | inevitable march of dialectical materialism, amirite? | 1996 wrote: | > Opium of the masses and the inevitable march of dialectical | materialism, amirite? | | You have different values, good for you. | | Some of us prefer science and progress. You live in your | country with your values, please do not export them on us and | we will do the same. | | The rest of the world is free to opt in China generosity. I | am sure one belt one road will help Africa more than all your | charities and religious missions combined. ___________________________________________________________________ (page generated 2021-01-31 23:00 UTC)