How Gene Editing Could Ruin Human Evolution

Aggregated News

http://time.com/4626571/crispr-gene-modification-evolution/

Silhouette of a baby. The baby's back is turned away from the camera, facing a window with sunlight. A rubber duck and several other toys are placed on the baby's side.

CRISPR snips away risky genes—but even the bad have good in them

In the 1960s, Thomas Kuhn suggested that scientific ideas undergo fits of revolution, challenging the foundation of establishment science. But it was Peter Galison who emphasized the impact of a tool or method, and encouraged the notion that technology creates the tangible breach or disruption of a field. Alfred Hersey, in a similar spirit, once told a colleague, “ideas come and go, but a method lasts.”

CRISPR-Cas9, the new gene modification tool, which has been heralded as a means for inserting ourselves into evolution, is itself evolving as a technology, even as you read this. That technology itself can evolve means there is greater urgency for how we think of our biology: either as a machine (which can break down and get new spare parts) or as part of ecology (whereby breakdown is not necessarily bad and can be part of growth, renewal or reorganization). CRISPR may be used to repair a gene that has a deficient product, such as an enzyme or receptor...

Human Genetic Modification

Genomics

U.S. Federal

A "Post-Human" Future?

Pioneering gene therapy for Hunter syndrome shows clinical success

By Jenny Lange, BioNews | 12.01.2025

Aggregated News

A UK toddler with a rare genetic condition was the first person to receive a new gene therapy that appears to halt disease progression.

Oliver, now three years old, has Hunter syndrome, an inherited genetic disorder that leads to physical...

Human Genetic Modification

Bay Area Startups Want to Make Genetically Engineered Babies. What Could Go Wrong?

By Grace Won, KQED [with CGS' Katie Hasson] | 12.02.2025

Aggregated News

In the U.S., it’s illegal to edit genes in human embryos with the intention of creating a genetically engineered baby. But according to the Wall Street Journal, Bay Area startups are focused on just that. It wouldn’t be the first...

Genetic Selection

New Gene-Editing Strategy Could Help Development of Treatments for Rare Diseases

By Pam Belluck and Carl Zimmer, The New York Times | 11.19.2025

Aggregated News

Gene-editing therapies offer great hope for treating rare diseases, but they face big hurdles: the tremendous time and resources involved in devising a treatment that might only apply to a small number of patients.

A study published on Wednesday...

Human Genetic Modification

Silicon Valley’s race to produce genetically engineered humans

By Katie Hasson | 11.21.2025

Biopolitical Times

Several recent Biopolitical Times posts (1, 2, 3, 4) have called attention to the alarmingly rapid commercialization of “designer baby” technologies: polygenic embryo screening (especially its use to purportedly screen for traits like intelligence), in vitro gametogenesis (lab-made eggs and sperm), and heritable genome editing (also termed embryo editing or reproductive gene editing). Those three, together with artificial wombs, have been dubbed the “Gattaca stack” by Brian Armstrong, CEO of the cryptocurrency company...

Genetic Selection

How Gene Editing Could Ruin Human Evolution

Perspectives

CRISPR snips away risky genes—but even the bad have good in them

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