Options, options

[Mayfan]

So I heard that soon, you won't have to wait nine months to know what you're baby's gonna look like - because you design it yourself. Scientists can alter the egg to make it the hair color / gender / eye color of your choosing.

Do you think it's a good idea? I'll list the pros and cons I can think of right now:

Pros: You can have that girl you've always wanted to go shopping with, and if you make her pretty it'll reduce teasing and ridicule because of height/ugliness.

Cons: If everyone wants a boy and there are few girls, then guess what? The human race goes extinct 'cause there are not enough women to give birth.

I, personally, wouldn't want to mess with this kind of thing and have my child how it is. Post your opinions here!

 

[evolutionrex]

Well, it is unnecessary and there isn't any point in doing it but i don't see why it would be wrong.

I agree with you saying, if everyone wants to have a boy, they'll be no more girls to mate with. But I'm pretty sure the government would notice that before it became a problem.

Also, why even bother making this thread? scientist haven't quite found the technology to control gender or there genes without mutating them severely, so what your talking about won't happen until the far future.

 

[ShadowSplash]

It's hard to say. I think that the option is pretty cool, but then it takes the fun out of being surprised with how your child looks.

Also, it's fun seeing your child be born with certain hair/eye color, and a few years later, it changes.

And I think it's kinda nice to see like "Oh he/she has my eyes" and "Look, he/she has your ears :3" So on and so on ..

But I think having the options would be cool, although it seems like it could have side affects somehow, like genetic mutations, etc.

Just my thoughts.

 

[Mayfan]

Also, why even bother making this thread? scientist haven't quite found the technology to control gender or there genes without mutating them severely, so what your talking about won't happen until the far future.

Not the far future. I honestly don't think it'll be long, at all.

I agree with you saying, if everyone wants to have a boy, they'll be no more girls to mate with. But I'm pretty sure the government would notice that before it became a problem.

Well, true. There could be laws restricting choosing boys/girls depending on which gender has more people.

And I think it's kinda nice to see like "Oh he/she has my eyes" and "Look, he/she has your ears :3" So on and so on ..

Yeah, and we would lose that with this option.

But I think having the options would be cool, although it seems like it could have side affects somehow, like genetic mutations, etc.

Yeah, it might still have some bugs for a while. Or kids turning into bugs. (Not really, that's impossible)

 

[J.T.]

Yeah, and we would lose that with this option.

I think the keyword here is "option".

I don't get why people seem to think that if this kind of genetic control were to come to fruition in the near future that absolutely everybody would change everything about their child. I'm willing to bet there would be plenty of people like Mayfan who would love their child the way they are and would keep them the way they come without resorting to things like this; at the same time, I'm not seeing much of a problem with letting parents who want to to change aspects of their child, particularly in cases where the child being born without intervention would result in some sort of super-bad genetic condition which could be cured before the kid's even born. I don't see the problem of changing genders resulting in a massive influx or decrease in children of either gender happening, as I'm sure there are as many people who want boys as there are who want girls.

 

[Mayfan]

I think the keyword here is "option".

Yeah. It still feels wrong though.... somehow... I don't think I'd be very happy if I knew my look had been toyed with and maybe even my gender 3: If you choose this option, it affects your kid's life, and they don't even get a say in it.

 

[M4zz]

There are some more pros and cons now that I think of it.

Pros:
-Diseases such as cancer and other herreditary diseases would slowly dissapear over time
-Bullying would probably decrase, as everyone would potentially be semi-perfect
-My race would have a comeback, as us Gingers have slowly decreased in numbers!

Cons:
-Taxpayer money would be raised incredulous amounts and funding would be difficult to come by
-DOES THE BABY WANT TO BE DESIGNED RATHER THAN NATURALLY BORN?
-Flaws in the system would be high, as airbourne pollutants could effect the refabrication
-If you happen to piss of this scientist, they could take it out on your baby.

Overall, it's not wise to screw with nature or its processes, as we all regret it later.

 

[J.T.]

If you choose this option, it affects your kid's life, and they don't even get a say in it.

Good point. I have to wonder if you were to change their gender how their brain would be affected. Would their development match up normally as if they were always going to be the gender they were born with, or might they end up as a transgendered person? Because that would suck. (And not in the "eww a trans person" way because honestly people should know me enough to know I'm not like that, I mean it would really suck to feel like a boy trapped in a girl's body or vice versa and having to live feeling like you're in the wrong body. And I probably still worded that badly.)

 

[starwars]

well after reading this i think what your talking about is changing the baby while its in the mothers body which would be theoreticaly be impossible as a trillion things go wrong which could kill the baby, the mother and they could mess up the genes making the baby a mutant. but i have a different theory for it you could make a machine that could contain dna from both parents and from that you could create the baby to any trait from with in the parents genes making the baby almost anything you want but it is just a theory i found while surfing the internet and i don't remember the name of the website.

 

[evolutionrex]

I just think this thread is is pointless, at this point in time controlling eye color, gender, and over all genes are merely science fiction. Until some one finally figures out how to do it we can judge anything. We won't know if it will cause mutations or anything like that if we don't know the technology. However it will most likely face mutations, but so does a lot of things in science. I don't think they would release it into the public if there were major problems, and if there was a problem found people would recall it.

 

[Aquanova]

The thing where you can control the gender is a huge problem in Asia I hear, as people are choosing to have more boys, and they outnumber the girls, and there might not have enough girls in the future, so i think its kind of a bad idea. Its kinda selfish to want your kid to look a certain way, cause thats for you, not the kid and they dont care what the kid would want

 

[Mewtwo_soul]

If it was possible at the current time I think it would be honestly bad. People argue "well it's an option."

The problem I see is some parents would copy other people's children just to fit in, set up a sick twisted game of ID thievery (just think if a child you thought was yours slipped into your house as your real child was kidnapped and killed?) and originality would be low. The thing that makes life great is having differences with this techonology a stereotypical look would obviously be enforced by most people just by how most people think. People would probably get violent against "copies" and copies would probably lead an anti "imperfect" squad.

Too many movies show the good side of such technology potential, however those who show the dark side really do make a good point on screwing with such things is bad and can cause all kinds of problems to arise.

 

[Jb]

I think babies should be born natrually, it's been done that why since forever, no need to change it now, tho it it might have some pros, they won't have much of a effect untill about a maybe 50 yrs? also all that "changeing' is bound to mess up some where, then what?

If it can lower sereious conditions, then doing it small amounts would be cool, but when teenage moms have "Lets design a baby party" things have been taken too far.

 

[ShinySandshrew]

I mean it would really suck to feel like a boy trapped in a girl's body or vice versa and having to live feeling like you're in the wrong body. And I probably still worded that badly.)

What's even worse is feeling like that and knowing it was your parents's who made the decision that made you like that.

In other news, murders commited by teenagers against their parents has risen drastically.

 

[CSolarstorm]

Probably best not mess with the wisdom of random occurance. Then we'd end up with fads and fashions about what kind of baby people like to have, and certain traits would end up too common, and cause something akin to inbreeding. And of course, what about mistakes - the kids would grow up blaming their parents for meddling in their gene pool.

Although, ShinySandshrew, I don't think gender confusion is a big cause of teenage shooting... -_-

 

[J.T.]

So I seem to be at some level of agreement with some of the more conservative forumgoers here. That's unusual. I'm definitely for it if it would mean improving the child's quality of life - say, nipping a genetic defect in the bud before it causes some sort of disorder later on - but beyond that, I'm not big on it.

However...

it's been done that why since forever, no need to change it now

... "it's always been done this way" is a terrible reason to oppose or support anything. Just saying.

 

[ShinySandshrew]

Probably best not mess with the wisdom of random occurance. Then we'd end up with fads and fashions about what kind of baby people like to have, and certain traits would end up too common, and cause something akin to inbreeding. And of course, what about mistakes - the kids would grow up blaming their parents for meddling in their gene pool.

Quite right. And inbreed could cause there to be less diversity of immune systems, making our civilazation more likely to pandemics.

Although, ShinySandshrew, I don't think gender confusion is a big cause of teenage shooting... -_-

Oh, sorry. I was talking about murder due to anger at the parents for allowing your genes to be monkied with and messing up your emotions.

 

[Murky_Night]

I think options for a baby is a disgusting and disturbing idea. Kind of going with SunnyC's post, children would be nothing but accesories. How can anybody not want to give birth to child they created, not some scientist with a needle.

 

[Jb]

... "it's always been done this way" is a terrible reason to oppose or support anything. Just saying.

Well it's not like it had any other way to be done, or has it.....>.>?

 

[CSolarstorm]

So I seem to be at some level of agreement with some of the more conservative forumgoers here. That's unusual. I'm definitely for it if it would mean improving the child's quality of life - say, nipping a genetic defect in the bud before it causes some sort of disorder later on - but beyond that, I'm not big on it.

However...

... "it's always been done this way" is a terrible reason to oppose or support anything. Just saying.

It's called Appeal to Tradition, isn't it?

Someone could say "We've always taken the route that gives us more choice and lets us pick and choose how things turn out, why shouldn't we now?" That would be the same thing.

I can understand how conservatives and liberals could come together against this. Someone shouldn't always be given options, especially if they are such important, possibly pivotal options as genetics.

Although Gene Therapy, to try to prevent a genetic disability, I would support that. They already have a risk of being disabled. I suppose the same scenario could appply, and something could go worse and the child could blame the parents for exacerbating the problem, but I would like to see potential cures for genetic disabilities.