Personally, I’d guess that for this to be acceptable (and adopted by institutions), we should initially propose the technology for less controversial goals, like removing diseases or promoting health. Increasing intelligence might also be a potentially non-controversial goal. But proposing to act immediately on personality and more “trivial” traits might backfire. I think a trajectory like that would be more effective in practice
If you meant in terms of the actual rollout,
Yeah, I meant in terms of practical adoption. A democratic state will initially face strong pressure to restrict or ban technologies that the majority of the population strongly disagrees with. Even though this topic is already debated, this debate probably still feels pretty ‘alien’ to ordinary people. I don’t think a large portion of the public could easily accept it, especially in its broad ‘total liberty’ version.
Human reproduction is seen as something sacred. To intervene in a way that feels justifiable to common people, you’d need a justification that’s just as ‘sacred’ or important. Fighting diseases definitely fits that for most reasonable people. Even increasing intelligence or creativity could be seen as obviously useful, even if not sacred. But claiming the right to choose the fine details of your child’s personality would look like the classic ‘playing God’ scenario, which could turn a lot of people against the whole thing. Even worse, allowing total liberty over ‘trivial’ traits (though I agree they aren’t often actually so trivial) would act as a perfect strawman for anyone wanting to attack this. It gives the idea of children as ‘consumer products’ you pick at a supermarket based on trends, like choosing a dog breed because it’s fashionable. These associations would be horrific for many people and maybe would overshadow the actual concrete benefits of these technologies.
I think we tend to underestimate how much people would resist change when it comes to deeply rooted traditions, and probably even more for basic biological functions like natural reproduction. We can just look at the rejection of GMOs: they are mostly proven to be safe, yet they are still banned or hated in many places.
My point is that by strongly advocating for everything at once, we may risk an ‘all-or-nothing’ rejection. Giving people time to get used to the technology and seeing that nothing ‘demonic’ happens seems like a more plausible way to gain long-term acceptance. Not that discussing everything now is unreasonable, but we should be aware that it might be a hard thing to pull off. And therefore try to focus on at least saving the less controversial interventions (such as preventing disease and improving intelligence).
That said, the fact that this could potentially be a big new business might be a strong incentive, especially in a country like the US. So maybe I’m being too pessimistic here.
I agree with the rest of your observations. I don’t think the critical points I raised are, in themselves, sufficient reasons not to adopt the technology, but it’s obviously important to have them clear from the start and try to prevent them as much as possible.
Yeah, I meant in terms of practical adoption. A democratic state will initially face strong pressure to restrict or ban technologies that the majority of the population strongly disagrees with. Even though this topic is already debated, this debate probably still feels pretty ‘alien’ to ordinary people. I don’t think a large portion of the public could easily accept it, especially in its broad ‘total liberty’ version.
Human reproduction is seen as something sacred. To intervene in a way that feels justifiable to common people, you’d need a justification that’s just as ‘sacred’ or important. Fighting diseases definitely fits that for most reasonable people. Even increasing intelligence or creativity could be seen as obviously useful, even if not sacred. But claiming the right to choose the fine details of your child’s personality would look like the classic ‘playing God’ scenario, which could turn a lot of people against the whole thing. Even worse, allowing total liberty over ‘trivial’ traits (though I agree they aren’t often actually so trivial) would act as a perfect strawman for anyone wanting to attack this. It gives the idea of children as ‘consumer products’ you pick at a supermarket based on trends, like choosing a dog breed because it’s fashionable. These associations would be horrific for many people and maybe would overshadow the actual concrete benefits of these technologies.
I think we tend to underestimate how much people would resist change when it comes to deeply rooted traditions, and probably even more for basic biological functions like natural reproduction. We can just look at the rejection of GMOs: they are mostly proven to be safe, yet they are still banned or hated in many places.
My point is that by strongly advocating for everything at once, we may risk an ‘all-or-nothing’ rejection. Giving people time to get used to the technology and seeing that nothing ‘demonic’ happens seems like a more plausible way to gain long-term acceptance. Not that discussing everything now is unreasonable, but we should be aware that it might be a hard thing to pull off. And therefore try to focus on at least saving the less controversial interventions (such as preventing disease and improving intelligence).
That said, the fact that this could potentially be a big new business might be a strong incentive, especially in a country like the US. So maybe I’m being too pessimistic here.
I agree with the rest of your observations. I don’t think the critical points I raised are, in themselves, sufficient reasons not to adopt the technology, but it’s obviously important to have them clear from the start and try to prevent them as much as possible.
Sorry (again) for this very late reply!
You may be right, IDK. Will have to think more.