The world's first genetically engineered babies have already been born. Should we embrace this new technology? http://smarturl.it/GEBabiesIQ2 pic.twitter.com/ecyintlx27
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Humility about unintended consequences, for one. We don't usually get things right on the first try. Only one of the above methods will likely lead to increased negative consequences for babies, even if we cannot immediately predict what those consequences might be.
Mate choice often leads to unanticipated side-effects, spontaneous abortion, embryonic death, catastrophic failures of development, etc. We're just used to those as the cost of biological reproduction.
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Thinking on the fly here, so please bear with me. 1. Particular mate choices have side-effects, not the system of mate choice per se, as evidenced by the fact that we can avoid bad choices (e.g., Orthodox Jews screening for genetic incompatibilities before picking mates).
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2. At least initially, side effects of genetic engineering would be systemic by definition, as we lack the info to make good choices about how to do so. Raises the question of whether it's worth it to run the experiment to gain the info if the subjects (babies) can't consent.
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