S2E5 - Designer Babies

Imagine: You’re pregnant and your doctor offers you a DNA edit so your baby can avoid a terminal illness. Do you do it? That decision is coming sooner than you think. Turns out an expert professor on DNA-editing (who is also a Christian) had some early conversations with the Chinese scientist who shocked the world in 2018 by editing two real babies DNA. The trouble is, the Chinese scientist has some compelling moral reasoning for what he did: and he explains them on YouTube. What do we think of this? Plus we namecheck an amazing old-school sci-fi movie that imagines a DNA-based world... Can you guess? LINKS Sorry, Chris declined to provide a link to his DNA test results. (see privacy - ha!) MIT Technology Review broke the CRISPR Babies story. He Jiankui describe his work with gene editing babies in this YouTube video. The Atlantic provides a good summary of reactions within the scientific community. Blood tests for Downs Syndrome have had consequences its inventors did not foresee or intend. Some evidence suggests He’s gene-editing may have enhanced the babies’ brains too. TALK BACK Follow Device & Virtue on Instagram and Twitter. Follow Chris and Adam on Twitter. Support Device & Virtue on Patreon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices