To be blunt, the problem of genetic engineering on humans can be boiled down to “The strongest modifications are locked behind gametes which requires you to have children, whereas the genetic modifications that can be applied instantly, or take effect in minutes or hours, are extremely weak, and the breakthroughs in gamete editing don’t transfer at all to the somatic gene editing case.”
And for such a radical redesign of the human brain like redesigning the emotional system, we are not nearly at the point where we can reliably edit potentially thousands of genes, especially without very dangerous side effects.
I remember reading about technology where retrovirus injected in bloodstream, that is capable of modifying receptiveness of braincells to certain artificial chemical. Virus cant pass brain barrier unless ultrasonic vibrations applied to selected brain area making it temporary passable there. This allows for making normally ~inert chemical into targeted drug. Probably nowhere close to applying it to humans—approval process will be nightmare.
Actually, more recently neuroscientists have discovered and utilized viral vectors for genetic payloads capable of crossing the blood brain barrier without ultrasonic bbb disruption. By recently, I mean… It was recent as of 6 years ago when I was last working on modifying the brains of mammals with engineered viruses.
Hmm, I would say that the potential is there for that, but that there is a lot of aversion in the medical field about researching things which aren’t about fixing nonspecific problems. Like, a weird rare mutation that causes the left side of the body to have spasms? Cool! Letting people regulate their mood or appetite, even though it would potentially save millions of lives? Taboo!
So… yeah. The tech is there, the scientific community isn’t working effectively on that.
One of the projects I worked on was using optogenetics (genetic modification plus fiberoptic implant) to induce anxiety in mice via an unusual neural circuit. Lots about emotional regulation is known and controllable.
>(To be honest, I really wish genetic engineering was good enough to be used instantly, but no luck there.)
Well, it depends on the kind of genetic engineering you have in mind. Many things are possible with current technology.
To be blunt, the problem of genetic engineering on humans can be boiled down to “The strongest modifications are locked behind gametes which requires you to have children, whereas the genetic modifications that can be applied instantly, or take effect in minutes or hours, are extremely weak, and the breakthroughs in gamete editing don’t transfer at all to the somatic gene editing case.”
And for such a radical redesign of the human brain like redesigning the emotional system, we are not nearly at the point where we can reliably edit potentially thousands of genes, especially without very dangerous side effects.
I remember reading about technology where retrovirus injected in bloodstream, that is capable of modifying receptiveness of braincells to certain artificial chemical. Virus cant pass brain barrier unless ultrasonic vibrations applied to selected brain area making it temporary passable there. This allows for making normally ~inert chemical into targeted drug. Probably nowhere close to applying it to humans—approval process will be nightmare.
Actually, more recently neuroscientists have discovered and utilized viral vectors for genetic payloads capable of crossing the blood brain barrier without ultrasonic bbb disruption. By recently, I mean… It was recent as of 6 years ago when I was last working on modifying the brains of mammals with engineered viruses.
As I understood it ultrasonic disruption was feature as it allows to target specific brain area.
Putting aside obvious trust issues how close is current technology to correcting things like undesired emotional states?
Hmm, I would say that the potential is there for that, but that there is a lot of aversion in the medical field about researching things which aren’t about fixing nonspecific problems. Like, a weird rare mutation that causes the left side of the body to have spasms? Cool! Letting people regulate their mood or appetite, even though it would potentially save millions of lives? Taboo! So… yeah. The tech is there, the scientific community isn’t working effectively on that.
One of the projects I worked on was using optogenetics (genetic modification plus fiberoptic implant) to induce anxiety in mice via an unusual neural circuit. Lots about emotional regulation is known and controllable.