Quote:
Originally Posted by Spock Jenkins
One question would be that if we use our medical and technical knowledge to overcome genetic definciencies so that all of our bad genetic mutations survive to reproduce - do we effectively stop evolution? Perhaps better described as proliferation of the fit enough.
Will the forced reproduction of bad genetic mututations lead to our demise as a species years down the road? I know 50 - 100 years ago - I wouldn't have survived to reproduce, but I now have three children and the prospect for a normal life expectency. I like to think this is a good thing, but is it really in the long run?
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I dont think so in the same way I dont think we'll kill oursleves with an experiment on the LHC.
If we master genetic engineering we should be able to overcome any scenarios such as that. As we know nature has the ability to change our DNA realtime through viruses. We should eb able to do the same thing with syntehtic viruses or gene therapy of some type in order to avoid extinction.
We could screw up but that would be through our own incompetence.
However if you consider we are now well aware of the danger of extinction through a bollide collision and still havent planned what to do in case we need to deflect an incoming bollide - we obviously are not taking too seriously the advantage nature has gifted us.