I agree that allowing selection on some of these traits is potentially very harmful. For example, selecting sex is a problem, esp. if parents end up having a skewed distribution of preferences in this direction. Eg, see some of the consequences of the one-child policy. It also feels a little icky, even if preferences end up coming out 50:50. Skin colour is fairly polygenic I think, so even if many people select for skin colour, the damage will happen more slowly, unless we’re skipping straight to tech that directly writes large chunks of the genome. But I agree that it is indeed damage.
At the same time, I’d like an explanation for why it’s actually bad for parents to select for the following traits:
Beautiful
Intelligent
Not deaf
Strong (in the “has a muscle mass in the range that is optimal for health” sense; I think the median person is probably below this range?)
You gestured at all progress in social justice instantly evaporating once we allow such selection, but I don’t really believe your argument for that, because I think most people in modern society do actually realize that it’s silly to consider people responsible for choices made by their parents. And not being deaf is super convenient for the person who gets to be able to hear things.
I agree that allowing selection on some of these traits is potentially very harmful. For example, selecting sex is a problem, esp. if parents end up having a skewed distribution of preferences in this direction. Eg, see some of the consequences of the one-child policy. It also feels a little icky, even if preferences end up coming out 50:50. Skin colour is fairly polygenic I think, so even if many people select for skin colour, the damage will happen more slowly, unless we’re skipping straight to tech that directly writes large chunks of the genome. But I agree that it is indeed damage.
At the same time, I’d like an explanation for why it’s actually bad for parents to select for the following traits:
Beautiful
Intelligent
Not deaf
Strong (in the “has a muscle mass in the range that is optimal for health” sense; I think the median person is probably below this range?)
You gestured at all progress in social justice instantly evaporating once we allow such selection, but I don’t really believe your argument for that, because I think most people in modern society do actually realize that it’s silly to consider people responsible for choices made by their parents. And not being deaf is super convenient for the person who gets to be able to hear things.