I said adults do not have the base stem cells which can morph into any other kind of cell around, which I'm pretty sure is true. Those are only found in embryos. Every cell that is not in it's final stage is considered a "stem cell" though because it still has the capability, or opportunity, to be morphed into another cell.
I'd have to say that genetically engineering a child to fix a condition that is fixable by surgery or other means in early life is alright. I just don't think we should alter someone's genes in a way that would make them live "longer than naturally," such as a heart disorder. If we got rid of that then they'll live for a while no problems. If we didn't there's still a good chance that they'll live, or they'll die. Also, think of the evolutionary concerns. If everyone decided to eliminate hair loss, a genetic disease, then that would be gone for ever in under 3 generations. But what about the side effects, the other DNA information that is attached with the hair loss strand? So now everyone is going to have nasty yellow-grey hair when they're old? Or perhaps there will be no more blonde hair? This is a simple example. Think of the genetic heart disease. This can usually be avoided by simply not smoking. Many of these genetic diseases need a second mutation to act as a catalyst. But what genetic information is attached to this heart disease strand that we're not yet aware of? Maybe it's the rate of finger nail and hair growth, maybe it's the muscular autonomy of the heart (trade a heart attack for a murmur?) or maybe something as far as our ability to create lymphatic cells?
There are evolutionary consequences far beyond anything that we can predict. Clipping off my daughter's acne gene may actually change her entire skin makeup, making it rough and callussy. And then that intentional mutation has been inadvertantly introduced into the genetic pool. In several generations 20 people will have that gene in dominance, one hundred will be carrying the trait. I am not for guiding the evolutionary pattern of the human race in this fashion. It would be the same as genetically engineering my eyes to be replaced by octupus eyes, which can see ten times better than any human eye, and some scientists believe can see a wider band of light's frequency (infrared, microwave, ultraviolet).
I'm glad you're all for this brave new world, TechMage, but I'm not ready to OD on somba.
