• thebestaquaman@lemmy.world
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      1 day ago

      I’m not saying that this kind of thing cannot be used for bad purposes. I’m asking the philosophical question of where our moral obligation to do everything we can to give our children the best possible life begins.

      Should we let them be born “as is”, and then have a moral obligation to do everything we can to make the best of whatever genetic baggage they have, or should we do whatever is in our power even before they’re born to give them a better shot at a good life?

      Explosives have caused enormous amounts of death, but also allowed enormous amounts of people to live in safer, more affordable houses, and have been critical for mineral extraction that essentially makes modern society possible, as well as modern transportation infrastructure. Explosives, like most technology, aren’t an inherently “evil” thing, even though they’re used for bad purposes.

      • Ensign_Crab@lemmy.world
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        1 day ago

        I’m not saying that this kind of thing cannot be used for bad purposes.

        And I’m saying it will be.

        • thebestaquaman@lemmy.world
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          1 day ago

          But that doesn’t answer the question of whether we are morally obliged to use it for good purposes when possible. It’s just a different point entirely.

          • Ensign_Crab@lemmy.world
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            22 hours ago

            Sounds to me like you’re fine with collateral damage as long as you get to edit certain neurodiverse people out of the gene pool.

            • thebestaquaman@lemmy.world
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              21 hours ago

              It’s actually absurd to me that you’re able to read that out of my comment. I’m literally asking whether we have a moral obligation to use the technology available to us to prevent cancer, ALS, Alzheimer’s, compromised immune systems, metabolic diseases, and fragile backs in our future children.

              I even specifically stated that this wasn’t about whether the same technology can be used for nefarious purposes, which is a different discussion entirely.

              • Ensign_Crab@lemmy.world
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                16 hours ago

                It’s actually absurd to me that you’re able to read that out of my comment.

                I know. You can’t figure out why I’m not as cavalier as you are about something that will absolutely be misused. People are already so hateful of neurodiversity that they’re willing to risk everyone’s health because charlatans have convinced them that the MMR vaccine will cause their children to be autistic. Except there’s actual science behind sexual preference being genetic. You think that bigots aren’t going to try to edit the gay away? Or edit the gays away? And we’ve seen with vaccines in this administration that these assholes are happy to try to give their backwards garbage the force of law.

                • thebestaquaman@lemmy.world
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                  2 hours ago

                  You’re just clearly not interested in having a reasonable discussion about what I consider to be an interesting topic, and appear more interested in attacking me over opinions I don’t have, and positions I haven’t defended.

                  I’m not really interested in being talked down to be someone that appears to be wilfully misinterpreting me, so I’m probably just going to leave this comment section now.