GM your kids?

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Okay, now imagine a world where anybody can have any GM they want for their kids. Would you turn down longevity, intelligence, physical "perfection", the "wishlist"? And if you did, would your kids be competitive in such a world?

[Ian]

The only stuff I'd modify is any genetic anomalies that predispose them towards severe physical/mental problems, such as alcoholism, morbid obesity, heart defects, etc. I wouldn't try to tinker with anything that promised to make them exceptionally intelligent or very tall, etc.

That's my sentiment. But if it was well tested with most of the bugs worked out and everyone else was doing it, then not doing it would be placing them at a disadvantage. It would be like making them dumber and shorter.

Entirely true. If advantages like that were guaranteed with no blowback in other areas, then I'd be ok with it. My only concerns right now is the reliability of such modifications; until proven, I'd only risk GM to do away with the bad stuff, not enhance the good stuff.

Ever seen Gattaca?

[Robert_S]

The only stuff I'd modify is any genetic anomalies that predispose them towards severe physical/mental problems, such as alcoholism, morbid obesity, heart defects, etc. I wouldn't try to tinker with anything that promised to make them exceptionally intelligent or very tall, etc.

That's my sentiment. But if it was well tested with most of the bugs worked out and everyone else was doing it, then not doing it would be placing them at a disadvantage. It would be like making them dumber and shorter.

Entirely true. If advantages like that were guaranteed with no blowback in other areas, then I'd be ok with it. My only concerns right now is the reliability of such modifications; until proven, I'd only risk GM to do away with the bad stuff, not enhance the good stuff.

Ever seen Gattaca?

Not yet.

[Bella Fortuna]

I would gm the shit out of kids.

And deprive them of the satisfaction of a good poo? You heartless bastard!

[Audley Strange]

What's the point in wasting money in modifying them? They'll either be Mad Max style savages, a slave race to the chinese or eaten by Cthulhu within the next couple of decades and failing that your great grandchildren will probably have left meatspace forever to become immortal clouds of semi-organic semi-digital nanobot colonies. Blow your cash on ketchup and DMT instead.

[Cormac]

What's the point in wasting money in modifying them? They'll either be Mad Max style savages, a slave race to the chinese or eaten by Cthulhu within the next couple of decades and failing that your great grandchildren will probably have left meatspace forever to become immortal clouds of semi-organic semi-digital nanobot colonies. Blow your cash on ketchup and DMT instead.

[Pappa]

What's the point in wasting money in modifying them? They'll either be Mad Max style savages, a slave race to the chinese or eaten by Cthulhu within the next couple of decades and failing that your great grandchildren will probably have left meatspace forever to become immortal clouds of semi-organic semi-digital nanobot colonies. Blow your cash on ketchup and DMT instead.

No, ketchup is disgusting and poisonous. I'll just stick to the DMT thanks.

[Xamonas Chegwé]

Something subtle but devastating - like the ability to recognise a lie. Or to understand women when they do that thing with their mouths that makes noises.

[Warren Dew]

!. Yes.

2. I have beta thalassemia minor. It gives me some protection against malaria, at the cost of what amounts to very mild anemia due to red blood cells that don't last as long. The bigger issue is that a child both of whose parents have beta thalassemia minor may get beta thalassemia major, a much more serious condition.

It's likely my son also has beta thalassemia minor based on other blood tests. I would give him my other gene for that, as my daughter has, since I don't expect my son to live in malarial areas.

3. Due to tens of millions of years as frugivores, primates, including humans, have lost the ability to synthesize vitamin C, with a pseudogene in place of the L-gulonolactone oxidase gene. For the last few million years, humans have turned to diets lower in fruit, and the lack of vitamin C has been an issue. We've had some compensatory adaptations, but they likely have downsides - for example, there's a theory that atherosclerosis evolved in humans as a way to patch up arteries to avoid dying from scurvy over the course of winters without fruit.

I would give my kids the working form of the L-gulunolactone oxidase gene and the ability to synthesize vitamin C, and back out all the genetic changes that came about to compensate for the loss of that ability. This would give them the ability to stay healthy on a grain heavy diet lacking fruit or meat, such as rats can do, which if the human population continues increasing everyone will need to adapt to at some point.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

I would be happy if they just glowed in the dark and could play their ribcages like an accordion.