Human Gene Editing Receives Science Panel’s Support

It brings back the question of how "super-intelligence" will first take form: through biological engineering or hard AI? I am not convinced that one is easier or less ethical than the other (or that either are inherently unethical).

Germ-line "vaccination" against common heritable diseases may go a long way in decreasing health-care costs over the long-term. My belief is that this is the first area for gene-editing. We should create legislation that allows us to separate cosmetic or "value-add" (Increased IQ, etc.) gene-editing from basic disease prevention.

One thing I would like to note, however, is that the loss of common heritable diseases does not make our population, necessarily, stronger. Many disease genes have been linked to "Hybrid-vigor" type effects, in which case being a disease character makes the carrier more fit.