Now Possible to Design Your Own Baby

I just watch Gattaca, a story of a genetically inferior man who assumes the life of genetically selected man to pursue he lifelong dream of space travel. its good.

some say Albert Einstein had Aspergers Syndrome (autism spectrum disorder).

Is perfection ideal?

I can see the objections to this.  The complaint that perfection weakens us and we'be intolerant of imperfection.  However I think Nature would demonstrate more flexibility than that and keep delivering surprises in other ways.  I also think that since the majority of children born continue to be "oops" babies, we needn't worry too hard.  Lastly, I think there's people who prefer every racial phenotype and so will choose accordingly.  Anyway, two parents with deep brown eyes and black hair cannot have a blonde child with blue eyes from their own genes.  

I still don't understand the objection to copper hair and green eyes.  I think it's the loveliest combination nature can offer.  I'm sure there'd be plenty of parents who agree to ensure this phenotype survives too.  The predjudice against it seems to be very concentrated to the UK, which is goofy seeing as they're one of the source regions for this type.

An interesting idea. Thanks.

Mary

actually i was not proposing that perfection is ideal. that is part of the plot of Gattaca and the point made about Einstein. I was attempting to use satire.

I should point out that that Amniocentesis will be rapidly phased out. There are new blood tests taken from the mother that appears less intrusive, less expensive and more accurate than amniocentesis and chorionic villus sampling, which are typically used to test for Down.

Sequenom has a test called SEQureDx.

also remember some say Abraham Lincoln had Marfan syndrome

and J.F. Kennedy is thought to have had both colitis and Addison's disease.

Personally, I think their has to be a limit. Perhaps only diseases that maim individuals  (physical and mental) or ones that cause great pain.

Fascinating story Swan, and very challenging questions. Thanks for posting.

Would this mean I can no longer shake my fist and blame god/nature/the.mrs. when the little monster messes up?  `~)

Seriously, how would we view the older sibling if we engineered the next 3 kids, and furthermore, how will the new generation of 'selects' view the older generation of naturals?

I'm not an evolutionist per se, but what would this mean for natural selection?

Do we trust a society that produces TV shows like "Who Wants to Be Paris Hilton's BFF?" with the technology to manipulate the genetic code?

Where can I get enough SOMA to knock me out for good?

Creepy and weird I think.

What's the big deal? Hair and eye color have nothing to do with a child's personality, smartness, talent, and so on. So, even if such parents were to select for it, it wouldn't affect the rest of us, or the kid itself really. So...stop worrying people. I think the parents should have the right to select which embryo they want to have, if they want. There gonna be the ones paying for all the bills, carrying the baby in the womb, etc. so why should anybody else have the right to tell them which hair or eye colors they can or cannot choose?

Also, this child won't blame the parents for having given them a certain eye or hair color. Think about it, the embryo selected is the one implanted, thus this child (specifically) already has these traits, in order to not have these traits, the parents would have had to select another embryo. In this case, this specific child wouldn't have been born at all. So why would they complain? They're born. Ok, so they might have blonde hair, or green eyes, get over it. They should learn to respect their parents and shut up.

has there ever been a mistake?