Henry T. Greely, The End of Sex and the Future of Human Reproduction (Cambridge, Massachusetts, & London, England: Harvard U. Press, 2016):
"This is a book about the future of our species, about the likely development of revolutionary biological technologies, and about the deep ethical and legal changes our societies will face as a result. But the best way to sum it up I think, is to say that it about the coming obsolescence of sex.
* * *
"I expect that, sometime in the next twenty to forty years, among humans with good health coverage, sex, in one sense, will largely disappear, or at least decrease markedly, Most of those people will no longer use sexual intercourse to conceive their children. Instead of being conceived in bed, in the backseat of a car, or under a 'Keep off the Grass' sign, children will be conceived in clinics. Eggs and sperm will be united through in vitro fertilization (IVF). The DNA of the resulting embryos will them be sequenced and carefully analyzed before decisions are made (passive voice intentional) about which embryo or embryos to transfer to a womb for possible development into one or more living, breathing babies. "Prospective parents will be told as much as they want to know about the DNA of, say, 100 embryos and the implications of that DNA for the diseases, looks, behaviors, and other traits of the child each of those embryos might become. Then they will be asked to pick one to two to be transferred into a womb for possible gestation and birth, And it will all be safe, legal, and , to the prospective parents, free." "In short, we humans will begin, very broadly, to select consciously and knowingly the genetic variations and thus at least some of the traits and characteristics of our children. This idea is not new."
Id. at 1-2. The End of Sex . . . is a very worthwhile read on "preimplantation genetic diagnosis," and the consequences of its use, as it becomes less expensive and less dangerous and more informative. What Greely calls "Easy PGD". Though it should not impact your receptivity to the brave new world of Easy PGD, you might want to pause to consider whether you--YES YOU--would be here to read this post had your parents had Easy PGD available to them. Would they have selected the embryo that became you? Probabilities are not in your favor. Also, one should think about the issues of control of technology. Will Easy PGD be regulated? If so, how? Will prospective parents' choices be restricted in anyways? Or, will the control be in someone else's hand? Though not talking about Easy PGD, Loudon Wainwright III anticipated some of the issue in the lyrics to his song "1994":
There's been a brand new breakthrough
Though they're not sure what it means
We used to blame our parents
Now we can pin it on our genes
Hey and I'm not talking 501's
I don't mean no pair of pants
I'm talking about a future
Where nothing's left to chance
If you're dumb, fat, queer, or crazy
No one is to blame
You've just been dealt a lousy hand
In the genetic poker game
And if you start killing people
It's not evil you're not cruel
It's just a little goop polluting
Your genetic swimming pool
CHORUS:
They can spot the culprit
And magnify it on a screen
Those scientists and doctors
Can pinpoint that nasty gene
And with a little engineering
They can take that wayward train
And they can get it back on track
So you're smart, straight, thin, and sane
Abandon what is random
Don't you leave it up to luck
Why not submit yourself to a little
Genetic nip and tuck
Yeah we can put a man upon the moon
And we can conquer inner space
With a little genetic tinkering
We can make a master race
Now back there in the first verse
I sang that nothing is left to chance
We're locked into a box or a goose step
In life's DNA dance
Now the future is no mystery
Finally you can make plans
Yes it's your destiny and you won it
Just pray it stays in your hands
