• Question: Do you think that genetic engineering should be allowed, so potential genetic disorders can be eradicated?

    Asked by anon-244324 to Ondrej, Jordan, Eleanor, Ed on 19 Mar 2020.
    • Photo: Edward Banks

      Edward Banks answered on 19 Mar 2020:

      In an idealistic world, yes- it would be incredible to eradicate disorders that are predictable and detectable. Unfortunately, in the real world we live in, it is much more likely that such technology would be limited to (or skewed towards) the rich and already advantaged members of society. This would seriously exacerbate class struggles and definitely would not make life better for the majority! And where can we draw the line at which features are to be removed? It could very easily become unpleasant.

    • Photo: Eleanor Jones

      Eleanor Jones answered on 19 Mar 2020:

      This is a very interesting debate and one which has supporters on both sides of the argument. I can’t say I’ve ever thought about it significantly. I think in an ideal world, if we could control this so that we are able to simply eradicate various things like genetic disorders it would be great. But I think there is a strong chance that the technology could lead to big issues with “cherry-picking” features, and I think it’s too difficult to determine when it’s gone too far!

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