An algorithm that can analyse hundreds of millions of genetic sequences has identified DNA-cutting genes and enzymes that are extremely rare in nature.
  • @[email protected]
    5•7 months ago

    CRISPR is probably the technology I’m most terrified of. Designer babies, genetic bottlenecking, eugenics, the elimination of certain neurotypes, and probably millions of far worse consequences we can’t even concieve of and will be less capable of conceiving of when we narrow our species down based on what rich idiots think are the best traits for all people.

    • @[email protected]
      2•7 months ago

      It has terrible consequences if used wrong, but do know that most biologists & geneticists are as wary of the consequences as you are. Most folks see it as a tool exclusively for remedying debilitating genetic conditions, but that’s a slippery slope, and there’s a consensus that impermanent techniques like siRNA therapies offer many of the same benefits but with substantially less risk.

      We’re not going to get Gattica anytime soon, and the misuse of these technologies is going to be driven by commercialization of this technology and by investors, not by scientists. Frankly, the best tool to prevent misuse of CRISPR might be to limit for-profit use.