Randal Parker of Future Pundit opines on the recent comments by James Watson on “curing” stupidity. Additionally, what about making everyone “good looking”? When asked why he noted publically that Rosalind Franklin (he used her research for “discovering” the structure of DNA with Crick) was not very attractive and didn’t take an interest in her appearence, Watson simply stated, “Because it matters.” Some truths are self-evident I suppose?
Many, like Charles Murtaugh to name one, have expressed concern that playing around with the genome could cause unforseen problems (I’m sure it will). I think we have to look at this statistically. If you were two parents who had IQs of ~100 and could be guaranteed of having a child with an IQ of 150, if you took a 10% chance that there would serious complications that might not arise until later in life (this is the premise for a lot of science fiction oriented toward genetic engineering), would you take it? Extraordinary abilities and capacities may demand great risks.
What we may see is what values people really hold, and what are they willing to risk for it? In Los Angeles, parents might be say more willing to risk deformity to have “beautiful” children than folks in North Dakota. I have asked friends, only semi-rhetorically, “Would you give up 10 years of your life if you could have brilliance in your chosen field without the least effort?” These sort of choices have been pondered for as long as humanity has been sapient, at least judging by the choice of Achilles, who preferred a short glorious existence to anonymous longevity.
Long term consequences that we can not detect will be the issues, because obvious problems can be detected during pregnancy, and abortion is always a recourse. But the fact is that we take a risk with every breath we take as modern human beings that take “progress” for granted. Obesity and heart disease are the result of rich and constant diets, but would we go back to the lean years of the past? The freedom of women to have jobs had caused a great deal of social dislocation, but would we say to “back to the kitchens go!”
But the “risks” (statistically) might not be known until a small sample of “alterted” children mature to adulthood. But always into the darkness, some will go, risking danger for the glory that others fear….
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