Hank Greely, the director of Stanford University Law
School’s Center for Law and the Bio-sciences, believes that- within three
decades- people will no longer be having sex to procreate. Instead, Professor
Greely thinks that parents will simply choose from a range of embryos created
in a lab from their DNA.
This is
already feasible, and Mr. Greely believes it will become dramatically cheaper
in the near future. This option would give the parents more control of their
potential offspring as well as allowing them to prevent diseases. The process
currently involves taking a skin sample from the female to create stem cells,
which are then used in the creation of eggs. The eggs are then fertilized with
the male’s sperm cells, resulting in an array of embryos from which to select.
The
embryos would be screened to identify any potential diseases, and professor
Greely believes the process will soon get to a point where parents will have
the ability to select their child’s hair and eye color. Britain’s Telegraph
reported that the Stanford professor, speaking at the Aspen Ideas Festival,
opined: “I think one of the hardest things about this will be all the divorces
that come about when she wants embryo number 15 and he wants embryo number 64.”
He added: “I think the decision making will be a real challenge for people. How
do you weigh a slightly higher chance of diabetes with slightly lower risk of
schizophrenia against better musical ability and a much lower risk of colon
cancer? Good luck.”
Looking
to the future no longer holds the allure that it once did for me. Robots taking
our jobs. Artificial intelligence aiding Big Government and Big Tech in knowing
our every thought and action- and telling us what beliefs are acceptable and
which ones aren’t. Sexbots. Designer babies. A remake of Roseanne.
Furthermore,
experts are telling us that people won’t own their own vehicles anymore, that
we’ll all just send for a ride as needed. Where is the romance in any of this?
Where is the adventure. Where is the humanity?
We won’t
be “parking” with our sweeties anymore, a practice that all but defined a good
chunk of the latter 20th century in America. We won’t “have to”
drive to a nice resort, either, for a romantic tryst.
“Honey, whaddya say you and I…you
know (winks).”
“You
mean (bats her eyes)?!”
“You
know I do (in a low voice). Let’s call for a car and have it take us to the lab
to pick out an embryo!”
“Oh,
Henry, can we?!”
“Hell, yeah! That’s what I’m I’m
talkin’ 'bout!”
Paging
Aldous Huxley. Your Brave New World is here.
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