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Comment by WheelsAtLarge | Hacker News Reader

Anyone know of any unexpected consequences of using this for IVF? It seems to me that we are falling into brave-new-world territory without really trying. I'm sure parents will do this to help their kids but I wonder what the negative issues will be? Gender selection is one but that's already being done by other means. What will this particular technology bring?

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The Gattaca premise sounds pretty logical but not unexpected. Presumably they will optimize for what they might view to be "favorable" genes associated with preferred traits (skin/hair/eye color, beauty/symmetry, strength, height, intelligence, disease resistance, aggression, etc.) while attempting to eliminate the others.

This will (possibly) convey an increased "genetic" advantage upon the wealthy and privileged, while reinforcing societal structures that punish and exploit those who haven't been engineered the same way.

Good point, people don't realize it or admit it but being born with what society defines as beautiful features gives a person big advantages in life. It's like hitting the lottery as far as advantages vs someone that's not. If you're already wealthy you'll be able to buy those advantages for your kids. It will be one of the greatest inheritance parents can give them.

Well the governments job is to create laws to make it easier for humans to live together. Even if Gattaca style gene selection is available, laws can be put into place to prevent discrimination.

I.e. it is 100% illegal to do genetic testing for anyone other then yourself or your under-aged children. Those tests can only be done by a doctor and cannot be transferred or shared with anyone other than another doctor. Any employer or person that attempts to do a genetic test on someone can face jail-time.

Check out Gwern's analysis(https://www.gwern.net/Embryo-selection) of this kind of technology. It suggests a somewhat noticeable effect, but not a particularly large or worthwhile one. That doesn't factor in new technology, but the methodology is all there so it shouldn't be too hard to plug in the new values. I haven't done that yet, but I'd be surprised if there was a big shift.

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