What’s it like to give a TED talk and could there be designer babies in your future as a parent?
On Halloween I gave a TEDxVienna talk (click above) on giving consideration to the possibility that we may be headed toward a new reality in the next 15 years in which there are designer babies. What would that mean for society? Could a new eugenics be gaining ground? How would a world with designer babies impact us all individually?
How do we promote the valuable CRISPR-based research going on in labs around the world, but at the same time reduce the risk of negative outcomes with premature clinic attempts at human modification?
I also discuss my own family’s history where they had to leave their home in Vienna due to the eugenics of World War II.
In my talk I also mention last week’s summit at the National Academy of Sciences (NAS; #GeneEditSummit) that tackled the path forward. My view as articulated in my TED talk was that we need a moratorium, but the NAS meeting did not reach that consensus.
Where do we go from here?
If you are interested in this topic, other resources include a Reddit AMA that I did yesterday and my new book, GMO Sapiens.
Interesting talk. You hit two themes:
(1) Superior health through superior genes.
(2) State bias towards superior performers.
To the first, I say that much bad health is actually caused by lifestyle more than genes. To the second, I say that the state/economy should be made for the people and not the people for the state/economy. Indeed, in my view, it is the squashing of people into a rotten economic framework that is the cause of much of the trouble in the first.
When we are wise enough to solve the above organizational issues, then, maybe then, we might be wise enough to even start to think about designing babies. My bet would be that having achieved such wisdom, we wouldn’t do it.