There are annoying roadblocks that await. Maybe legal things. Things that are actually really difficult to bypass.
These definitely aren’t exhaustive lists. It’s just what came to me after a few minutes of thinking.
I see this as a sort of “stand on the shoulders of giants” type of situation. By consulting with domain experts and figuring out why people currently aren’t doing this, you’re standing on their shoulders. Once you’re up there and have a better view of the path forward:
You might want to continue down the path you’re currently headed.
You might see some roadblocks and realize you need to take a different path forward.
You might realize that it’s not worth moving forward at all.
I’m glad to see that you’ve put some solid thought into this question. However, I was concerned to see this:
But I’ve only talked to a couple of people. Maybe someone I haven’t spoken with knows of a hard blocker I am unaware of.
That feels to me like you’re standing on their ankles[1] rather than their shoulders. The comment from HiddenPrior also gives me that sense.
To me, it seems worth spending a ton of time talking to people to really ensure that you are in fact on their shoulders.
I very well may be wrong about where it is exactly that you’re standing though. I only gave this post and the comment section a somewhat brief skim. It also seems plausible that you undersold just how much effort you’ve spent trying to stand on the shoulders of others.
I think at this point we’ve probably spoken with about 10 people I consider to have some reasonable level of expertise in the field. And there have been a number of very high quality comments from knowledgeable people in the comments.
We will continue to talk with more and perhaps we will learn something that will definitely not work. I think if that is the case, the polygenic editing path is still worth pursuing because it could potentially be repurposed for many other applications.
I think this is a very important question to ask.
Sometimes the reasons are encouraging:
An inadequacy analysis reveals that no one is properly incentivized to.
The funding isn’t there.
It’s too schelp-y and unsexy.
It’s too science fiction-y.
No one thought of it.
Other times the reasons are discouraging:
There are good technical reasons.
There are annoying roadblocks that await. Maybe legal things. Things that are actually really difficult to bypass.
These definitely aren’t exhaustive lists. It’s just what came to me after a few minutes of thinking.
I see this as a sort of “stand on the shoulders of giants” type of situation. By consulting with domain experts and figuring out why people currently aren’t doing this, you’re standing on their shoulders. Once you’re up there and have a better view of the path forward:
You might want to continue down the path you’re currently headed.
You might see some roadblocks and realize you need to take a different path forward.
You might realize that it’s not worth moving forward at all.
I’m glad to see that you’ve put some solid thought into this question. However, I was concerned to see this:
That feels to me like you’re standing on their ankles[1] rather than their shoulders. The comment from HiddenPrior also gives me that sense.
To me, it seems worth spending a ton of time talking to people to really ensure that you are in fact on their shoulders.
I very well may be wrong about where it is exactly that you’re standing though. I only gave this post and the comment section a somewhat brief skim. It also seems plausible that you undersold just how much effort you’ve spent trying to stand on the shoulders of others.
The metaphor certainly breaks down, but I think the point still is clear.
I think at this point we’ve probably spoken with about 10 people I consider to have some reasonable level of expertise in the field. And there have been a number of very high quality comments from knowledgeable people in the comments.
We will continue to talk with more and perhaps we will learn something that will definitely not work. I think if that is the case, the polygenic editing path is still worth pursuing because it could potentially be repurposed for many other applications.