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Designer Babies

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Designer baby row over US clinic

Parents can select hair and eye colour

A US clinic has sparked controversy by offering would-be parents the chance to select traits like the eye and hair colour of their offspring.

The LA Fertility Institutes run by Dr Jeff Steinberg, a pioneer of IVF in the 1970s, expects a trait-selected baby to be born next year.

His clinic also offers sex selection. (BBC article at link)
 

ThatsWhatHeSaid

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htb

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At age 16, Baby A shall receive his doctorate in philosophy, then briefly assist at a university before serving as maitre d' for weekending natural-born who tip well thinking he's one of them; and shortly afterward the niche market will collapse.
 

ajblaise

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Someone's going to have to pay for all these super babies.

birth.jpg
 

Quinlan

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and so the race of superhumans begins...

Us mongrels better watch out.
 

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Here's a question, would you trust a lab to mess with your genetics to create a beautiful exterior for your child or would you wonder if they were messing with more than externals while they were in there? Like genes for independent thought, etc?
 

ajblaise

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Here's a question, would you trust a lab to mess with your genetics to create a beautiful exterior for your child or would you wonder if they were messing with more than externals while they were in there? Like genes for independent thought, etc?

I don't think they'd purposely try to mess with genetics to effect independent thought, creativity, etc. I don't see the incentive. I'd be more wary of the possible side effects, which one can't know until one of their lab babies grows up. I'm not sure what kind of parent would use this service. Maybe the perfect skin and eye color would be overshadowed by the terrible parenting they're about to get.
 

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I don't think they'd purposely try to mess with genetics to effect independent thought, creativity, etc. I don't see the incentive.

Because our whole education system is set up, by design to encourage such thought and creativity?
 

Anonymous

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Here's a question, would you trust a lab to mess with your genetics to create a beautiful exterior for your child or would you wonder if they were messing with more than externals while they were in there? Like genes for independent thought, etc?

I don't think you have to worry about that, they're still searching for the genes of such obvious things as extroversion/introversion (if they even exist); subtle and complex stuff like independent though is likely not going to be tied to a single gene, or be independent in any way (i.e., if they want to get rid of independent thought, they'd probably have to get rid of intelligence).

Basically, at this point, I would, yes. We're don't know nearly enough for all of the consequences of designer babies that people have written about to become reality.
 

ajblaise

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Because our whole education system is set up, by design to encourage such thought and creativity?

Oh I'd see an incentive for them to accelerate or improve thought and creativity through genetics, but I think the fear is that they'd damage those facilities, either by accident or to create drones who don't think for themselves.
 

ptgatsby

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Here's a question, would you trust a lab to mess with your genetics to create a beautiful exterior for your child or would you wonder if they were messing with more than externals while they were in there? Like genes for independent thought, etc?

Just to be clear, no one is messing with genes yet.

I would trust them more than I would trust nature to give me a child that didn't suffer from some genetic disease that would make their life miserable, and possibly the parents as well. I'd do a full genetic screening in a heartbeat. If I could, I might even select particular personality traits and beyond, including things like intelligence. I'd have to avoid getting into a minority game situation, but I certainly have no hesitation to do it.
 

scantilyclad

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Why can't people just like their children the way they are, or accept the way they may be? I don't get it. I would never want to personally select my child's eye and hair color or anything else for that matter.
 

CrystalViolet

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How do they do it? Select eye colour and hair colour I mean? I have a fair idea how they select for sex.

Have you ever met parents who continuously churn out kids of one sex in their desperation to have one of the opposite gender?(they trusted to nature) One family I knew had six boys, and finally they got their girl. The women openly admitted she'd keep getting pregnant until she had a girl. There isn't any thing wrong inherently with that, but I always think of them when I read about sex selection in babies.

It's not really much different than having only sperm donors with an IQ of 140 and above. Intelligent women need only apply.

Personally, I'd much rather leave it to luck - although I hear you on genetic testing for disorders. As a general rule, parents have a fair idea there's a nasty disease lurking in the family (not always though).
Which reminds me, I have another story about that..maybe I'll save that for another day.
 

EcK

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Why can't people just like their children the way they are, or accept the way they may be? I don't get it. I would never want to personally select my child's eye and hair color or anything else for that matter.

b'cause I don't really want kids in the first place, so knowing for SURE that a potential brat of mine wouldn't be a dumbass could be a good motivation. And a way to boost birth rates in industrialised countries. also.

I don't see what's wrong with it really. Except for the bullshit christian moralists I mean, but I believe a rise in average intelligence would pretty much mean a drastic reduction in religious movements.

Natural selection's almost switched off in our society. We need to compensate with a form of limited eugenics. Yes it has it's drawbacks but then again, everything has, maybe it's time for people to grow up.

This would have to be limited ofc, so we don't end up with 'one perfect genotype' and lose some potentially interesting gene combinations in the future or make humanity more fragile when it comes to pandemics.

Anyway, even then, if we had a set of genes to make people smarter, stronger, live longer, resist stuffs like aids and be 10 times less likely to get cancer. Would we say 'aw but we need people to be different so we'll keep it far away from 99% of the population'. That would be like saying that mormons' kids should live like it's the 15th century because then we city dwellers get to have 'cultural wealth and diversity' to admire.
 

sade

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Just to be clear, no one is messing with genes yet.

I would trust them more than I would trust nature to give me a child that didn't suffer from some genetic disease that would make their life miserable, and possibly the parents as well. I'd do a full genetic screening in a heartbeat. If I could, I might even select particular personality traits and beyond, including things like intelligence. I'd have to avoid getting into a minority game situation, but I certainly have no hesitation to do it.
I'd do it too.
Might even wonder about the personality traits, but that tends to be a more: I'd let it come as it comes -area. I don't care for the cosmetics that much, not for the hair and skin color.
 

ptgatsby

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Is that the offical word from the un-offical labs out there? :D

It's not feasible at the present time, so I guess it's the official word :D

Hopefully there isn't any human research going on out there, but given the state of the majority of the population, I see it as entirely possible.
 

EcK

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Invent a way to ask the unborn child and I'll let her/him choose.

The baby's daddy isn't going to look like me (hopefully!). Difference happens. So?

Not planning on marrying ur twin brother?

gross!:cheese:
 
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