I thought this was a very interesting article, but I would question how much counterfactual difference we could expect intervention to make here. My default expectation is that a lot of this is going to happen anyway due to demand from parents. My impression is that IVF and PGS screening both became very commonplace with little explicit policy support for exactly this reason. This doesn’t apply to setting external incentives, but does apply to many of the specific technologies you mention.
I also thought this was a little strange:
One way of alleviating the harm due to inequality is by advocating a tax on innate, unearned qualities, such as favorable genetics and inheritance. I believe that these policies will be popular once the technology comes up on the horizon, and will likely play a large role in mitigating the worst risks of inequality.
With genetic enhancement, favourable genetics are (no longer) random—they are the result of a deliberate decision that you are trying to encourage. How many parents would want to curse their child with higher taxes? It seems rather strange that we should start taxing (e.g. discouraging) this good thing precisely at the moment it becomes possible to promote it!
Finally, you might enjoy this article by Eliezer. One interesting point is that there is something of a collective action problem, because each mutation is probably bad for the individual/family with it but provides useful information for everyone else.
I thought this was a very interesting article, but I would question how much counterfactual difference we could expect intervention to make here. My default expectation is that a lot of this is going to happen anyway due to demand from parents. My impression is that IVF and PGS screening both became very commonplace with little explicit policy support for exactly this reason. This doesn’t apply to setting external incentives, but does apply to many of the specific technologies you mention.
I also thought this was a little strange:
With genetic enhancement, favourable genetics are (no longer) random—they are the result of a deliberate decision that you are trying to encourage. How many parents would want to curse their child with higher taxes? It seems rather strange that we should start taxing (e.g. discouraging) this good thing precisely at the moment it becomes possible to promote it!
Finally, you might enjoy this article by Eliezer. One interesting point is that there is something of a collective action problem, because each mutation is probably bad for the individual/family with it but provides useful information for everyone else.