🌸🌹2ck 🌱🐇 @2ck@qoto.org

@dantheclamman hmm. I haven't read the article, but I would guess that different availability of the components for each of the bases would have an effect, though I don't know how large of an effect. also, the different bases have somewhat different electrical properties which is why they pair with one base vs another and why they form certain secondary structures and not others. I think it would be more surprising if there were no differences from "synonymous" mutations

You continue down the hallway and reach it's end where it splits off to the left and right. You take a left and come quickly to a door. You knock and a woman answers from seemingly a few feet away, "What do you want?"

What do you ask her?

(* reply with the question you want to ask and a number between 1 and 100. I've written down the secret number and a code word ("donkey") so I can prove I didn't make it up after the fact. closest guess is the question that gets asked. you have until 1:00 UTC tomorrow to write in. *)

@nattiegoogie@mstdn.io you're performing a rhetorical trick in calling all embryonic gene editing "eugenics", uniting the practice with a broad and mostly racist ideology that's generally considered to be unethical. there's more to it, and possibly some good. my position, I stated, but my direction is towards talking more about these questions because they're practically very important and becoming more important every year

@cherti
hey cool you wrote some stuff. I just wanted the source for claim so I could understand it for myself, but apparently this is a bot, so it's BS, i guess

@Natanox

http://smbc-comics.com/comic/priority
indeed, that would be refreshing 😆

You turn to your left and start down the hallway. The hallway is lit with fluorescent lights. The walls of the hallway are red, decorated in an ornate pattern of gold paint made of geometric shapes and letters you don't recognize.

You reach a point where you can't see the room you came from or the end of the hallway. You find, lying still on the floor, a corpse. It looks exactly like you.

What do you do?

@fediverse source?

@nattiegoogie@mstdn.io eugenics sounds like a terrible idea even before you write it down. I think there is something besides trying to "perfect" humanity (which, what the frak does that even mean?). If we can reliably tell that a person is going to have schizophrenia, is that something we should just let ride? People with a whole host of conditions have provided inspiration or inspired compassion among millions -- is there utility in that? Is it worth the suffering for those with those conditions? Is that suffering fait accompli or further conditioned on parental and societal reaction to it?

My current position is that although there are good and worthy people with specific diseases (by which I mean, let's not lump them all together), we probably should prevent some of them if we can. We should also provide support for people with incurable diseases so they can live full lives.

@trinsec it's quoted in the podcast episode.

yeah, there is the aspect of people are still going to have children without gene editing. Would they become second-class citizens? Will parents who conceive naturally be considered unethical or even immoral for doing so? Maybe the only way to have fair and universal access would be germ-line editing through a viral vector that prevents gene-linked diseases for everyone infected -- imagine the political upheaval over that.

I sympathize with the guy in the story trying to do gene editing for IVF wanting a good outcome for his kid, but his certainty that this tech is an unambiguous good makes my skin crawl. Like have you *really* thought about it deeply? Maybe you're a *little* biased?

Is gene editing human embryos ethical?

The Future of Embryo Selection Website: https://www.npr.org/podcasts/381443461/the-pulse
Audio: https://whyy-od.streamguys1.com:443/thepulse/thepulse20220610.mp3

My current thinking is that if it's accurate and has well-understood mechanisms for preventing disease, and, most importantly, it's standard for everyone, then it's probably possible to do it ethically. So, those are necessary, but not sufficient, conditions -- you get to some pretty screwed up places if you rope in so-called disorders and use population statistic to identify traits. It's just not clear that these things can be separated linearly such that we're not systematically throwing out useful variation in the human behavioral range by eliminating based on partial information. Hubris may be our downfall here.

You touch the wall.

Static fills your vision then is replaced by an image of a young woman sitting at a desk in a bedroom with her back to you. She's studying a three dimensional grid hovering above her desk made of a glowing material with many whorls, puckers, and folds distorting the grid. As you observe the young woman, the grid duplicates itself and both remain suspended above her desk.

The young woman turns her head to face you and regards you coldly. Without turning from you, she quickly pokes both grids with her index finger. Your vision fades to static once again, then fades to black.

...

You're standing in a nondescript room.

There is a door opening to a hallway that vanishes in darkness to your left. Before you is a man looking at you with a thoughtful expression on his face.

"Back so soon?" he says.

What do you do?

You turn to your left and start down the hallway. The hallway is lit with fluorescent lights. The walls of the hallway are red, decorated in an ornate pattern of gold paint made of geometric shapes and letters you don't recognize.

You reach a point where you can't see the room you came from or the end of the hallway. What do you do?

You ask the man for directions.

"You want to know which way to go?" replies the man. "You tell me! You appear out of nowhere before my eyes and ask me?"

He gives you a rueful look. "You're the first person I've met here...the first human anyway." He raises his eyebrows emphatically. "Well, I don't know if it's what your looking for, but go down the hall, take a left, and knock on the door. She'll tell you what to do from there."

You're still in the room. What do you do?

You're standing in a nondescript room.

There is a door opening to a hallway that vanishes in darkness to your left. Before you is a man staring at you with a bemused expression on his face.

What do you do?