Geneticist Hank Greeley: "In 30 Years, Humanity Will" Make Children "without Sex"

Video: Geneticist Hank Greeley: "In 30 Years, Humanity Will" Make Children "without Sex"

Video: Geneticist Hank Greeley: "In 30 Years, Humanity Will" Make Children "without Sex"
Video: The Truth Behind The “Ideal” Human Body In Future 2024, March
Geneticist Hank Greeley: "In 30 Years, Humanity Will" Make Children "without Sex"
Geneticist Hank Greeley: "In 30 Years, Humanity Will" Make Children "without Sex"
Anonim
Geneticist Hank Greeley
Geneticist Hank Greeley

Professor of Genetics and Director of the Institute of Law and Biosciences at Stanford University Hank Greeley believes that “in 20-30 years, most Americans will not have sex to conceive.

Instead, they will choose embryos created in a special laboratory with the best indicators of risks and chances."

Greeley presented his views on the future of human reproductive function at the Aspen Ideas Festival, according to the German newspaper Die Welt.

Image
Image

“I don’t think we’ll be able to say that this or that embryo will be able to score 1550 points on the SAT (American school test for admission to higher education),” says Greeley.

But the predictions that "one embryo, for example, will have a 60% chance of getting into the upper strata of society, and the other - a 13% chance of being in the top ten," Greeley considers realistic.

But first of all, in the course of pre-implantation diagnostics, artificially created embryos will be checked for hereditary cancers. It will also be possible to choose the gender and other characteristics of the child.

Nevertheless, the professor notes that this method will not allow "creating" "ideal children", since scientists will only be able to work with the DNA material of the parents. However, in the future, desirable qualities like blue eyes can be implemented using the DNA editing tool CRISPR.

Greeley is confident that this process will become less expensive in the future due to technological advances. What's more, Greeley believes this will save some of the health care costs. In particular, if the cost of a "selection" child is 10 thousand US dollars, 100 children will already bring a million dollars.

The cost of caring for a sick child is so high that reducing the birth rate of sick children by only 0.3% will save significant amounts, the publication adds.

Recommended: