Humanity has made such advances in genetic engineering that humans may eventually have superpowers.
Robotics expert Rob Neil said that humanity has made significant progress in genetic engineering, and this will allow us to see babies, designed by designers - children who are genetically engineered to get rid of any genetic defects during our lives.
In his opinion, genetic engineering is not going to stop there - and perhaps the time will come when people will give their children such unusual physical properties as lungs of increased volume or large growth.
“I think that in 20 years, if you want to have a baby, and that he has a height of more than 2 meters and a large chest or other such things, then it will be quite possible,” said Neil.
Chinese scientists published an article last April describing how they altered the genome of a human embryo to block a gene that causes a rare blood disorder. They used a technology called CRISPR-cas9, which allows biologists to find and replace DNA components.
But this technology is far from perfect - it successfully removes the target code 40 percent of the time and properly disables it about 20 percent.
However, there are great prospects. And the question arises - if it is possible to remove the genes that cause disease, then why not use them to develop traits in children such as intelligence or high growth?
“It’s not always easy to talk about it because it questions our deepest, most fundamental beliefs about who we are and who we would like to see our children and what we think about what it means to be human,” said Neil.
Promotional video:
Another expert, Neil de Grasse Tyson, believes that designing babies is not a good idea.
“If we start deciding what our offspring should be, then I think the world will become less interesting,” he said.
But Neil believes it's important not to regulate gene editing just because it scares someone. This will only drive the problem into another corner - and what is really needed is an ethical debate about where to draw the line.
In any case, thanks to advances in genetic engineering, humans must change, Neil said.
“I’m ready to go further and say that I think we are actually making a transition to a completely different species now - in fact, even many different species,” he said.
