Designer Babies, The Next Generation

Science is amazing. We all know it. We also know that science is like a curious little baby who just became mobile and doesn’t know where not to go. Granted those types of places could be endlessly argued with things like morality and religion and the like, it’s safe to say the baby knows no such thing nor cares little for it and simply wants to go there and satisfy its curiosity for the time being.

In a recent video I watched an interesting topic was being discussed that got me thinking about babies, and not in the cute ‘I want to have some of my own’ type of way.

In it the discussion of whether or not humanity should venture into making ‘designer babies’ as the possibility for gene manipulation becomes easier with the technology and resources that have become available and/or will most likely become available in the not too distant future.

Now while I am both amazed and impressed that humanity has reached such great lengths as a species, I am also worried as I think about the implications of such breakthroughs. As the video also indicates, the ethics behind such acts are somewhat questionable when you add in the human factor of creating the ‘perfect’ baby. Because one has to ask, what is the perfect baby? And is it the same for everyone?

However, that’s not even the most worrying thing of all, it’s the fact that the process of creating these designer babies has long term effects that are unpredictable after birth as well as down the generation line, but can you honestly say most people would care about that?

Looking at our society and the rate of most pop culture and social media, we can see that people are more interested in the now and have no interested in what will happened later down the line. So if we give them the option to create their ideal babies, or even unique babies, as the guy in the video suggested creating a baby with a tail, you can only imagine what the next few generations would have to deal with on top of a decaying world.

But then you have the flip side of genetic manipulation where certain illnesses can be eliminated and cures can be cultivated saving millions of lives. So it’s clear that the process isn’t all that bad and has multiple levels of use to it.

It’s interesting to mull over, especially when you consider further, things like; how will these babies be accepted into a society that isn’t yet ready to fully accept all the different types of people it already has in its fold? Where does the moral compass lay, with the millions saved or the selected few that could be created? And quite frankly, are designer babies worth possibly deforming your future grandchildren?

Either way it’s safe to say the research will be done and somewhere in the world further experimentation will be conducted. I guess all one can do is wait and see what society does when the results crawl into the playroom.

IQ vs Common Sense

According to an article I recently read humanity is supposedly getting smarter as a species as opposed to a few generations ago.

Given the recent events of the mugging of SABC crew on live television as well as a multitude of other news that never really gets such great coverage I have to say I’m a bit skeptical about this report and its authenticity. Of course the report emphasizes that the change is most prominent in developed countries, so I guess I can see how our little corner of Africa could have slipped through the cracks a bit. Still in general with an overall average increase of 20 points in terms of global IQ scoring since 1950, there might be some ground to the theory. After all we managed to overcome much in the last 20 plus years [Africa that is].

But one has to ask, does an increased IQ have anything to do with basic common sense? Because I have to wonder if that wasn’t a factor measured alongside human intelligence. Looking at the developed countries that supposedly have the greater IQ’s I have to say that a general lack of common sense seems to be a growing problem as small problems snowball into greater issues simply because common sense was lacking. In fact common sense has become endangered of not being so common any more.

Right and wrong have become so twisted as it travels into the realm of ‘his’ right and ‘her’ wrong or even ‘their’ way or the highway. Things that have been simply black and white have turned into fifty shades of controversy that no one is willing to touch but are unable to look away from. All this and more while a majority of the youth worldwide become less educated by the second due to poor systems or simply poor living conditions.

So is humanity really smarter now as opposed to way back when, when things had to be thought about deeply before ‘he’ was right and ‘she’ was wrong and pondered on while ‘that’ way was studied and ‘our’ ways were adapted to survive?

It’s a curious thing to think, especially when one reads the news that threatens to challenge this study.

Amazingly Scary Science

Science is amazing.

In a recent article I read I was reminded just how amazing, and possibly scary, science is as they reported on a new toy scientists had succeed in testing out. This new toy, a laser, apparently worked in stopping a vehicle from over a mile away. I can’t help but read that and be amazed as I realized the future is indeed in our grasps as technology such as this begins to pop up, and not just on the drawing board but on the practice field.

The ATHENA system, aside from being awesomely named, creates great anticipation for current development as you picture it being moulded further into other areas aside from a simple laser that could take out a truck in the testing grounds. Given the time and demand this laser could be taking out moving cars as it is worked into a manageable device catered to law enforcement or even other interested parties, in which case certain protocols would then need to be put in place to regulate such dangerously useful technology.

But why stop there?

These are lasers, the kind that little boys have been dreaming about since they could hold sticks and run around pointing them at people. Knowing that the market exists I’m sure it won’t stop at just being equipped to cars and helicopters for long as innovators somewhere in the world will find a way to create a handheld device.

And here is where my inner voice kicks in with the dark side.

Not only have we stepped into the future of lasers, but the future of war games has now been upgraded to a new deadly level. Can you even imagine? Or maybe I’m just being overly negative, who knows?


What I do know is that man has finally unlocked lasers and we have stepped one inch closer to a future we coveted in books and movies. Hopefully with each step we gain and technological advance we make a little wisdom and peace follow along.

Wanking away global warming...

With the Fifty Shades of Grey movie showing how ready Hollywood is to plaster the screens with sexy time movies I can’t say I’m surprised with this next development. If anything, I’d say I’m impressed, especially considering the fact that this little invention could potentially solve a handful of household energy problems our county is currently facing. Well, that is if it ever makes it past the testing phase and finally onto our local shelves.

I recently read an interesting article about the release of an interesting product from PornHub, the Wankband. The technology uses wearable tech in a whole new way as it conserves energy while the user does their usual business in terms of PornHub related activity.

It’s a unique take on ways to generate and save electricity and in all honesty a smart use of available technology. But what’s smarter is the use of the large market PornHub caters to. The international audience is practically ripe for the picking and with such intriguing tech that smoothly integrates into their lives while saving them in other areas, specifically finances, you can be sure of a lucrative market.

But it’s interesting, the release of this kind of product. It reveals that energy problems are more than just a South African problem as it highlights that there are other countries out there looking for alternate ways to save and generate energy. It’s a scary thought this, mostly because it brings one’s attention to the fact that resources are finally becoming noticeably strained.

It was only a few years ago when the idea of ‘strained resources’ would be discussed and dismissed when scientists spoke of global warming and its effects on the populace and economy, yet now as their warnings grow cold and their theories start to become fact, we find ourselves scrambling about to fix things before the lights go out.

I’m curious to see what other companies join PornHub with such intriguing innovation as the energy problems of the world slowly begin to become more prominent, especially if this kind of product is a peek into the minds working on those innovations.