CRISPR and other tools aren’t science fiction anymore. If the wealthy get there first, what happens to everyone else?

  • TribblesBestFriend@startrek.website
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    59
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    5 hours ago

    Yes.

    But it’s already here. Education is already doing what you’re fearing. Rich people tend to have access to better education and thus having access to better salaries, positions, etc.

    • AppleTea@lemmy.zip
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      20
      ·
      edit-2
      4 hours ago

      Yep. Learned behavior is where human evolution actually happens; it’s our specialization, our niche as big brained, highly social, linguistic apes. Don’t gotta wait for random genetic changes that happen to encode useful new instincts. We just learn them from one another. Significantly speedier.

      If rich people go mucking about with their genomes, it’s much more likely to backfire in unforeseen ways than to actually instill any sort of advantage. Genes are a messy, messy, messy means of encoding things.

    • ileftreddit@piefed.social
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      7
      ·
      4 hours ago

      Not just education, but what really matters- social connections. The wealthy only want to socialize with other wealthy people, so when their kids begin entering adulthood they’ll give them a leg up. Wealthy people control access to many high-paying jobs; the classic example is wall st, where unless you’re a rocket scientist your daddy has to know someone to get an internship.

        • ileftreddit@piefed.social
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          2
          ·
          2 hours ago

          They already have. The few very rich friends I have (money is no object people) are all great at pretending to have empathy but their actions belie them

          • Draces@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            1
            ·
            18 minutes ago

            Yep, they’ll act like they care, think that they care, but put the mildest of obstacles in front of them and they’ll throw a poor person into a meat grinder to avoid it. People who grew up with money have no character or idea how to weather any kind of hardship