Abstract
This chapter discusses in vitro fertilization and how embryos will be selected, for example an intelligence trait. We have reached a crossroads where IVF can be used, not only to assist in helping an otherwise impossible pregnancy, but to assist in changing the traits in the fetus, such as intelligence, a use which many might object to on ethical grounds. We must steer clear of what has been criticized as bordering on a form of eugenics.
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- 1.
J.B.S. Haldane’s essay “Daedalus: Science and the Future” (1923), wrote about scientists advocating transhumanism as the idea bringing forward eugenics through advances in science and technology.
- 2.
Stock is Director, Program of Medicine, Technology and Society at UCLA School of Medicine imagines the inevitability of super humans with 150-year life spans, free from disease and equipped with gene modules conferring intelligence, physical aptitude, or aesthetic talents.
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Some IVF facilities collect sperm or egg donations as well as certain profile information pertaining to the donors. Such profiles typically include the donor’s race, height, weight, age, blood type, health condition, eye color, educational background, and family history.
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Super-smart designer babies could be on offer soon. But is that ethical? https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/nov/19/designer-babies-ethical-genetic-selection-intelligence.
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Carvalko Jr., J.R. (2020). Planning the Journey. In: Conserving Humanity at the Dawn of Posthuman Technology. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-26407-9_43
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-26407-9_43
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Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
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