>> a rush to genetic engineering is something that might behave like cancer itself over time.
Can you elaborate on this? To me, it seems perfectly reasonable that a directed and intentional process of man-made engineering could blow the random process of evolution out of the water, both in timescale and in effectiveness. For example, there's not really an evolutionary advantage to eliminating geriatric cancer: kids have been made, genes have been passed, in all likelihood multiple generations down by the time old-age related illnesses develop. Yet, we want to live longer, and live better lives during that time, so we can take the reigns and address what evolution couldn't.
Can you elaborate on this? To me, it seems perfectly reasonable that a directed and intentional process of man-made engineering could blow the random process of evolution out of the water, both in timescale and in effectiveness. For example, there's not really an evolutionary advantage to eliminating geriatric cancer: kids have been made, genes have been passed, in all likelihood multiple generations down by the time old-age related illnesses develop. Yet, we want to live longer, and live better lives during that time, so we can take the reigns and address what evolution couldn't.