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Intelligence Matters - Jamie Metzl

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Jamie Metzl   Nov 7th, 2019

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andros 284w ago |    Last Edited: 210w ago
In the long run, my main concern is monoculture. After eventually finding a "golden set" of gene combinations that will bestow upon the engineered newborns a very desirable set of attributes, we risk eventually ending up with one or a few "standard-issue" humans -- all of whom will be simultaneously susceptible to the next lucky genetic draw of influenza. In "The Red Queen: Sex and the Evolution of Human Nature", Matt Ridley explains how sex arose as the ultimate species-protection mechanism, by randomly reshuffling the genetic "locks" of newly-produced individuals to challenge the ever-changing "keys" of attacking pathogens. When such randomness is phased out, a security hole is left open for the whole species. Judging by how complacent we became with antibiotics, I have little hope that we'll be able to restrain ourselves from overuse of genetic engineering before some major crisis starts looming.