On Sat, Jun 20, 2020 at 4:26 PM Lawrence Crowell < [email protected]> wrote:
> *> insert additional copies of the ARHGAP11B gene to create super-smart > babies. The question of course is, what can go wrong with this? There are > potential nightmare scenarios for people so genetically engineered. > Further, a sort of "brains arms race" could lead to generations of young > people who are mental freaks. They might be in some ways very smart, but > they could also easily be emotionally dysfunctional or mentally ill. My > brother was a plant molecular biologist and geneticist and I used to have > arguments over this. I am not entirely against genetic modification, but I > think great care and caution is in order. My brother was more laissez faire > about this.* I'm with your brother on this one. It's true that some mathematicians, especially world class mathematicians, tend to be a bit on the odd side, so it's not unreasonable to think that increased intelligence might cause some mental instability and other problems, but historically all advancements have always caused problems of some sort, some of which we learn how to fix and others we learn how to live with. And besides, trying to halt this would be a losing proposition; out of a population of 7.6 billion people sooner or later somebody somewhere is going to use genetic engineering to enhance human intelligence, and that will result in people who can outsmart those who have not received such enhancement. Right or wrong in the end the pro-enhancement people will win and the anti-enhancement people will lose, it's only a matter of time. John K Clark -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Everything List" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/everything-list/CAJPayv2sMO6rP4p-c%3DseKHguP%3Dok%2BH-G7FZtr_UBm%2BLXEHe%2Bog%40mail.gmail.com.
