Reproduction is important for the evolution of life on our planet, as it ensures the mixing of genetic material and its transfer to future generations.
Genetics expert Hank Greeley believes that humanity is on the verge of a radical change in the way humanity reproduces, and will use laboratory conditions for this.
In the coming decades, the couple will be able to "choose" a baby who will not have diseases and will have certain traits that his parents want. Such procedures will lead to the fact that sex will become a thing of the past. Having children in any other way will seem almost irresponsible.
The professor believes that genetic material taken from skin cells will be used to obtain eggs, which will be fertilized using sperm taken from the father of the unborn baby. The procedure will allow parents to choose the "design" of their children, choosing the one they want from 100 or so embryos created in this way.
It all sounds like something out of science fiction films like Gattaca, where genetic selection is used to produce children with perfect traits. Parents will receive embryos grouped into categories. There will also be a category of incurable diseases (1-2%). Another category will be "cosmetic" - hair, eyes, shape, early gray hair. The fourth category is behavioral.
The professor says that much is still unknown and believes that this will lead to the end of sex as a method of human reproduction. Stem cell technology is already doing a lot. Genetic tests are already being used to pinpoint the risks in embryos used in IVF procedures.
A growing understanding of the genome will expand possibilities. Scientists have also shown that it is possible to grow sex cells, eggs and sperm in the laboratory using stem cells. Prof Greeley says using a combination of cloning and stem cell technology will help save women from the invasive procedures required to collect eggs for IVF.
Instead, genetic material can be taken from a skin cell and then used to create stem cells. Changes in pre-implantation genetic diagnostics will allow parents-to-be to select the embryo that best matches the traits they desire, while keeping the embryo free from disease. Advances in this technology will lead to easy genetic diagnosis and make asexual reproduction an inexpensive method.
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The professor believes that such advances will ultimately save society from huge amounts of health care costs by effectively eliminating serious genetic diseases. But this technology can also lead to serious ethical issues. Some people oppose using the genetic method to produce "designer babies", giving this role exclusively to God.