Archive here. https://archive.ph/p9xqe BE VERY VERY AFRAID . "Money is flowing into human genetic engineering. Since Tie arrived in New York last August, some of the richest men in the world have begun investing in her rivals. Gene editing startup Preventive launched in October with the stated aim of “preventing disease before birth”, and OpenAI’s Sam Altman and his husband, Oliver Mulherin, along with Brian Armstrong, the CEO of the cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, are among its investors.
Seven months before Preventive’s launch, Armstrong coined the term “the Gattaca stack” – after the dystopian 1997 sci-fi film about a near-future society dominated by genetically engineered super-beings – in a post on X describing technologies he says will be routinely used to create the babies of the future. Gene editing “for disease prevention, or enhancement” was included in Armstrong’s list. For him, at least, this is about improving babies, as well as avoiding disease.
Another item in Armstrong’s Gattaca stack – preimplantation genetic testing (PGT), so you can “choose the embryo that best matches what you want” – is already routinely used in the US. It’s unremarkable enough that the PGT company Nucelus Genomics advertises on the New York subway with the tagline “Have your best baby”, promising to maximise parents’ chances of having a child that is taller and smarter as well as healthier. PGT is embryo selection – sorting and choosing, rather than editing – but over the past decade it has become a regular part of fertility treatment for many Americans. Eugenics might still be a dirty word in most circles but, in the US at least, it has become quietly acceptable to use whatever tools reproductive technology can provide to optimise future offspring.
Tie isn’t fazed by her competition. “I hope there is more funding from billionaires,” she says, simply. She doesn’t regard them as competitors anyway, as there is currently no market in which they can legally compete. “I believe we’re all working on the same goal, which is to show, transparently, what this research can do.”
China, of course, has already demonstrated what gene editing can do. It was Chinese researchers who made the very first edits to human embryos in 2015, and a Chinese scientist – Tie’s former husband, He Jiankui – who implanted gene-edited embryos for the first time, creating twin girls known as Lulu and Nana, the first genetically modified human beings ever born."
Seven months before Preventive’s launch, Armstrong coined the term “the Gattaca stack” – after the dystopian 1997 sci-fi film about a near-future society dominated by genetically engineered super-beings – in a post on X describing technologies he says will be routinely used to create the babies of the future. Gene editing “for disease prevention, or enhancement” was included in Armstrong’s list. For him, at least, this is about improving babies, as well as avoiding disease.
Another item in Armstrong’s Gattaca stack – preimplantation genetic testing (PGT), so you can “choose the embryo that best matches what you want” – is already routinely used in the US. It’s unremarkable enough that the PGT company Nucelus Genomics advertises on the New York subway with the tagline “Have your best baby”, promising to maximise parents’ chances of having a child that is taller and smarter as well as healthier. PGT is embryo selection – sorting and choosing, rather than editing – but over the past decade it has become a regular part of fertility treatment for many Americans. Eugenics might still be a dirty word in most circles but, in the US at least, it has become quietly acceptable to use whatever tools reproductive technology can provide to optimise future offspring.
Tie isn’t fazed by her competition. “I hope there is more funding from billionaires,” she says, simply. She doesn’t regard them as competitors anyway, as there is currently no market in which they can legally compete. “I believe we’re all working on the same goal, which is to show, transparently, what this research can do.”
China, of course, has already demonstrated what gene editing can do. It was Chinese researchers who made the very first edits to human embryos in 2015, and a Chinese scientist – Tie’s former husband, He Jiankui – who implanted gene-edited embryos for the first time, creating twin girls known as Lulu and Nana, the first genetically modified human beings ever born."
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