It’ll sure be obnoxious if we genetic engineer ourselves in to increasingly taller and shorter-lived bodies. Seems like a classic prisoner’s dilemna type scenario, similar to steroid abuse.
Biological engineering will enable us to remake ourselves in the image of our dreams—the problem is that we’re kind of stupid. My impression is that if we’re starting from something like current culture, the default will be to try to create children who are tall, lean, hypomanic, good at taking standardized tests, and probably blond.
I assume they will. Even if invulnerability to fashion has a genetic basis, I doubt that very many people would select for it. I take that back—if it’s possible to select for stable imprinting on “tradition” (what you’ve grown up with), some parents will want that.
Off topic, but there’s some evidence that shorter people live longer:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0024320502025031
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1071721/
It’ll sure be obnoxious if we genetic engineer ourselves in to increasingly taller and shorter-lived bodies. Seems like a classic prisoner’s dilemna type scenario, similar to steroid abuse.
Ohhh, yeah.
Biological engineering will enable us to remake ourselves in the image of our dreams—the problem is that we’re kind of stupid. My impression is that if we’re starting from something like current culture, the default will be to try to create children who are tall, lean, hypomanic, good at taking standardized tests, and probably blond.
Hm. I wonder if designer baby characteristics will go in and out of style the same way baby names do.
I assume they will. Even if invulnerability to fashion has a genetic basis, I doubt that very many people would select for it. I take that back—if it’s possible to select for stable imprinting on “tradition” (what you’ve grown up with), some parents will want that.