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Comment by freejack | Hacker News Reader

I'm going to try and say this in the most warm and well-intended way possible.

I wonder how long it will take before someone from the Christian right claims that if science can reverse DS in mice that it won't be long before we can reverse "gay" in people.

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We probably will be able to reverse 'gay' in people. We'll probably also be able to reverse 'straight' as well. I've seen some sci-fi that touched on this subject a bit.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Forever_War

I'm pretty sure even political inclinations could be flipped over, provided we dig deep enough into the "machinery" up here.

That's interesting to think about. On the one hand, it sounds absurd to say that a medical procedure could influence someone's future political beliefs. On the other hand, would that sound absurd in 1,000 years? We're really in the very beginnings of understanding the human brain.

I'm not a doctor, but I could probably influence someone's political beliefs through medication, at least for the duration of treatment, and probably with aftereffects lasting far longer. $20 per treatment, several treatments per month. ((RS)-1-(benzo[d][1,3]dioxol-5-yl)-N-methylpropan-2-amine)

I absolutely love that book. One of those novels where I was really emotionally attached to the characters. The social and scientific ideas Haldeman touched on were very eye opening.

I actually just started reading it last week, I'm a couple chapters in and it has me hooked. Glad to hear other people have enjoyed it the whole way through!

I took a sci-fi writing class from Haldeman in college. He was great.

How long till we find out the NSA has been doing this in secret for years?

This is the most 'warm, well-intended way possible' to divert the discussion to something entirely unrelated and SNR-destroying.

I don't see how considering the social implications of scientific change is a diversion, YMMV.

I really don't see how this comment belongs here.

Someone can always claim that. So what? No matter how loud a megaphone they get it won't make them right.

Fair point.

Interestingly, if being gay is a biological phenomenon rather than a social one, then that may be possible.

I wonder if Wikipedia has a list of unethical medical research topics?

> being gay is a biological phenomenon rather than a social one

I would expect it to be a little of both. We are very complex animals and not all our social aspects are purely social rather than biological. Think bonobos and chimpanzees.

My gut feeling is that the majority of homosexuals are social, rather than biological.

So when did you choose to be (presumably) straight?

Silly rabbit, there you go thinking again. Did I say they chose? No, I said social, meaning their homosexuality was caused by social pressures instead of biological imperatives. I am sure there are some that 'chose' to be that way, just the majority of them are that way because of imprinting or other social pressures.

Well at some point, once the "mechanics" are mapped out, the ability to 'change' anything will be possible. I expect that schizophrenia and other mental disorders will top the list but as the technology is refined, adding creativity and intelligence won't be that far behind. I don't expect to live to see it but I can imagine that if the world doesn't spasmodically revert to the dark ages my kids will see it.

Eventually we might have the ability to choose gay, straight or whatever. Perhaps as easily and (non)permanently as coloring ones hair today. I think that would be an awesome future.

Isn't the biology that makes a person gay or not set at birth or in the early years? If so, treatments that provide a one-time change to gay or straight would probably come first.

The social implications of that would be interesting. How will people react when gay parents choose to make their in-vitro or adopted children gay? Conversely, how would the gay community react if no more gay people were being born?

I don't think we really know. There is some evidence that you are "born with" your sexual orientation, some that it is shaped in early childhood, some that it is due to a mix of factors (e.g. a predisposition and a "trigger"). But I readily admit I don't follow research in this area.

Is mild Asperger's a deviation that should be corrected as well? What about people that are border-line Down? Or just a bit smarter than that?

Next we'll be correcting minor things like vision and hearing! Where does the madness stop?

Or major ailments like being dead -- perish the thought!

If you are talking about anything caused by our genes someday we could all be just a few approved clones of what the people in power think is "best". Over-correction of natural variation can be dangerous for a species' survival. At least this author thinks so: http://www.amazon.com/Children-Of-Prometheus-Accelerating-Ev...

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