The sexual revolution began with contraception, but it is now entering its next stage: choosing our children's traits.
Parents who use IVF can now screen embryos to reduce disease risks and influence traits like intelligence.
The revolution began with the contraceptive pill, which unraveled the knot that tied sex to its biological purpose: children. The pill helped free women from the burden of unwantedfertilization enabled women to conceive by combining sperm and egg outside of the body. They could then choose which embryo to implant. IVF was a technological solution toA new technique called polygenic screening allows parents who use IVF to sequence the embryos they create to reveal their genetic propensities.
"The more modern type of reformer goes gaily up to it and says, 'I don't see the use of this; let us clear it away.' To which the more intelligent type of reformer will do well to answer: 'If you don't see the use of it, I certainly won't let you clear it away. Go away and think. Then, when you can come back and tell me that you do see the use of it, I may allow you to destroy it'.
Chesterton’s fence suggests that we should avoid editing embryos, at least until we have more knowledge and better editing technology. We might even think we should avoid usingFor one thing, parents who do polygenic screening select among whole genomes, each of which are perfectly natural combinations of sperm and eggs. Unlike genedoesn’t introduce any new risks to the IVF process.
But modern medicine allows us to fix the consequences of mutations with treatments like laser surgery for poor eyesight, chemotherapy forcancer, or vaccines and antibiotics to stave off infections. Those who can’t afford such treatments on their own are often subsidized by social welfare programs funded by taxpayers.
A century and a half later, it’s possible that we can mimic the benefits of natural selection by using genetic technology to minimize the likelihood that our children will suffer from the consequences of novel mutations."Chesterton’s fence" holds that we shouldn’t tear a fence down until we understand why it was built.
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