Is the Internet making us indifferent?

[TomOfSweden]

Yes, it will start that way. A fashion statement by the rich, designer children at exorbitant cost to satisfy exorbitant egos. But as the technology becomes more prevalent and the costs start to drop it will spread slowly to the middle class. Once that happens the governments will step in.

Why would the state step in? Parenthood is such a strong instinct, that I think regulation would be irrelevant. Even if they'd tried, nothing would change. Like it is with prostitution. The regulation doesn't change the behaviour.

Healthy, yes. I'm not disputing that. But there is more involved in genetics than just healthy. The ongoing debate between "Nature or Nurture" will take on new urgency as parents, or governments, try to weed out "undesirable" elements from their offspring. And once again I must ask, who decides what is undesirable?

Since the brightest minds today are debating this, I doubt we'll sort it out in this thread. It'll be interesting. But it doesn't really enter into the equation. If instincts can be modified with genetic engineering, we will. If not, we won't. The important thing to keep in mind is all the time, that the government would be powerless to regulate it. All it needs is one liberal country in the world, and then everybody would go there to have their babies designed. And we can be pretty sure that South Korea will never relinquish it's ultra liberal stance on this for any foreseeable future. Compare it to the abortion debate. In countries where abortion where regulated, the rich went abroad. Only the absolute poorest are ever impacted by the regulation.

And that is how it WILL happen...again!

I'll believe it when I see it.

Democracy is also good at allowing the worst aspects of humanity (by my definition, anyway) to flourish.

I agree, and that is why I like democracy. All extreme governmental systems are kept best in check in the open where they can be easily compared and evaluated.

But it is in the more autocratic governments that the worst abuses will probably arise. States run by ego maniacal dictators, or by religious fanatics. No, we must never assume that something cannot happen just because we don't want it to happen. We must be aware of what's happening and keep vigilant to prevent suck things. Having healthy children is one thing. Having healthy boys (or girls) because that's what the State decrees is another. And NOT having children because you are the wrong color, or religion, or because someone in a musty little office somewhere has decided that your genome is not acceptable, is something else entirely.

Probably. But then again. Aren't they guilty of the most vile human rights abuses already? How can it get any worse? Wouldn't this just be another in a long list? The Chinese might engineer their perfect communist citizen who isn't actually a greedy bastard, like the rest of us