Embryo Editing

@rosborne979,

Near extinction is likely to have a big impact on society (Re sci-fi, see "Dune')

Sci-fi, at it's best is predicting how our society will deal with these innovations. IMO Greg Bear has been one of the best at it.

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As much as I love this stuff, there's a new TV series called "The Year One Million" which I've stopped watching because it depresses me. I never thought I would feel that way about the future.

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@Finn dAbuzz,

I liked Gregory Benford better than Greg Bear.

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@rosborne979,

rosborne979 wrote:

I liked Gregory Benford better than Greg Bear.

Me too. Timescape is good, Cosm not so much.

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@centrox,

centrox wrote:

rosborne979 wrote:
I liked Gregory Benford better than Greg Bear.

Me too. Timescape is good, Cosm not so much.

Tides of Light

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@rosborne979,

rosborne979 wrote:

I liked Gregory Benford better than Greg Bear.

He's very good too.

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@rosborne979,

rosborne979 wrote:

centrox wrote:

rosborne979 wrote:
I liked Gregory Benford better than Greg Bear.

Me too. Timescape is good, Cosm not so much.

Tides of Light

I don't much go for multi-volume far-future galactic sagas with people and planets with strange names. I like Benford's books which concentrate on hard-science ideas (such as communicating with the past, or miniature universes). Like Anderson's Tau Zero. Mind you, the mechs in Tides of Light remind me a bit of Stanislaw Lem, who I do like.

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@centrox,

You might like Robert L. Forward's "Dragon's Egg".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragon%27s_Egg

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@centrox,

centrox wrote:

rosborne979 wrote:

centrox wrote:

rosborne979 wrote:
I liked Gregory Benford better than Greg Bear.

Me too. Timescape is good, Cosm not so much.

Tides of Light

I don't much go for multi-volume far-future galactic sagas with people and planets with strange names. I like Benford's books which concentrate on hard-science ideas (such as communicating with the past, or miniature universes). Like Anderson's Tau Zero. Mind you, the mechs in Tides of Light remind me a bit of Stanislaw Lem, who I do like.

Have you read any of Greg Egan's books? If not, and you like hard science sci-fi you'll probably enjoy him.

http://www.gregegan.net/

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@Finn dAbuzz,

Yes I have been hearing a lot about this recently.

I can see both sides - obviously most reasonable people are not going to want this sort of knowledge used for "designer" babies.

That being said - we currently try to prevent diseases and other serious defects - is trying to prevent it while an embryo much different? I have no issue with trying to prevent any sort of disease.

My overall opinion - is with any sort of medical treatment there are side effects or potential other issues. Why would any reasonable parent or especially a doctor want to risk a side effect to get a "blue-eyed, blond hair" baby for instance.

Not that this could not happen, but I think the chances for this becoming a designer baby thing would be rare. Most parents look forward to having a healthy baby.

Doesn't mean it wouldn't happen at all.

(maybe I am just an optimist)

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@Linkat,

A problem I have with this is not that it will be used on embryos, but that in it's development it is destroying embryos.

I don't really have a problem with designer babies.

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@Finn dAbuzz,

Finn dAbuzz wrote:

Have you read any of Greg Egan's books? If not, and you like hard science sci-fi you'll probably enjoy him.

I found (and read) the full text of a short story, "The Planck Dive" on his website, and my immediate thought was that, despite its promising title, it was like being trapped on a train with a unstoppably talkative astrophysics bore, or one of the A2K physics-thread trolls. I see that a reviewer compared his novel, "Incandescence ", with "a not particularly enthralling lecture on the process of scientific discovery, combined with the physics of a black hole".

I really like Christopher Priest, who is, I suppose, not exactly a hard-science writer, although "Inverted World" leans that way a bit. I tell you who else I like - George Zebrowski.

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Embryo Editing

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