Start of the new cycle

[David Horn]

(10-14-2018, 12:07 PM)Bill the Piper Wrote:

(10-14-2018, 08:12 AM)David Horn Wrote: And so once again we enter the nature/nurture paradigm.  If there is some truth to the idea that there is a genetic link to amorality and aggressive acquisitiveness, this may not be fixable, barring the use of genetic engineering,  We have a tool in CRSPR-CAS9 that could do it, but the shadow of eugenics makes that abhorrent today … perhaps forever.  

I assume this will be addressed, but not soon; 'not soon' being 22nd century or later.

WW2 memories have to fade... last veteran is expected to die in the 2030s, by this time boomers will be retired and the world will belong to Xers and Millennials, for whom Nazi eugenics is a distant history lesson. More importantly, the younger adults have been exposed to the concept of augmented humans in sci-fi movies and video games, so they are less likely to be abhorred by it. I don't think we'll have to wait until the 22nd century.

BTW, during which turning do you see transhumanism kicking in?

Once the bar is down on human gene editing, transhumanism isn't even a leap … just a short step.  I still see this as far in the future, because the Millennial scientists who are building this technology aren't ready for human gene editing themselves.  I heard one of the developers, who worked on the CRISPR program at as a PhD candidate, say that the potential for screwups was so high that adult interventions would be the early steps, with decades of oversight on the results.  In parallel, inheritable mods to non-humans would proceed from bacteria through mammals.  All of that takes time. Once both experimental processes are adequately tested (whatever that may mean at the time), it will move to human embryos and soon, off to the races.