When it actually happens, it tends to be a little more subtle than what was imagined (feared, hoped for,) but nonetheless, I think one of those things has happened. We have crossed a line. Not that it is bad necessarily, but we sure aren't going back. Human embryo chosen for its tissue type. From the story submission at /.:
"A couple conceived their son in vitro, no big deal -- but they chose that particular embryo because its tissue type would provide a match for their dying 6-year-old daughter. When their new baby was born, the umbilical cord's blood was transfused into the daughter immediately."
I thought it would take longer for this sort of thing to happen. I guess this case is not really such a big deal (when just thinking specifically about this one case - I mean, of course the parents are going to do whatever they can to save the dying daughter,) but the implications of selecting an embryo for certain characteristics are staggering. Seems like we are grabbing a whole bunch of power over the future of our species that is usually assigned to "nature" or "chance" or "god" or whatever you want to call it. I'm all for stealing the fire (so to speak) but I'm having one of those vertigo moments where the boundaries of what is possible (and not possible) are all dissolving. Wow. Just how fast could evolution be accelerated? And in what direction(s)?

Here's the direct link to the NY Times story (with the as of right now still working partners.nytimes.com link trick,) or here is the regular incredibly annoying and un-web like mandatory sign in link.
- jim 10-05-2000 4:39 pm
back to Jim Bassett's Weblog

i was just going to mention the partners thingy. been reading robot wisdom? what did you think of his latest polls?
- dave 10-05-2000 4:58 pm





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