Harari said in "A Brief History of the Future":
Predicting the future is not about accurately presenting it
Predicting the future is sometimes about Changing the Future
Genetic customization was mentioned in "A Brief History of the Future".
Before a child is born, doctors use technology to change genes and change the genes that parents want their children to have. This child will grow more beautiful, run faster, be smarter, and live longer. Even longer without getting sick. Over time, genes develop problems, are repaired again, and then continue again and again.
In fact, from a technical perspective, genetic customization is now achievable. However, from an ethical and moral perspective, its legal application cannot be made for the time being.
That’s because, once the door to “human gene editing” is opened, the first people to flood in will inevitably be the upper-class dignitaries and wealthy people with huge wealth.
They can use this technology to improve their family’s genes, so that their children will have stronger bodies, better looks, better memory and intelligence, and stronger disease resistance. , longer life.
This is the "superhuman" mentioned in the famous scientist Hawking's last posthumous work "Short Answers to the Big Questions" (published on October 16, 2018). He even predicted: a group of superhuman beings Through genetic engineering, they will leave other humans behind and eventually take over the earth.
Although relying on technology to customize a child's genes has not yet been recognized, relying on genetic testing technology to predict the future is beginning to be sought after.
You can tell whether your child will be Lang Lang or Usain Bolt with just a breath of saliva. Combined with genetic characteristics, targeted enrollment in interest classes, targeted training, and precise education can help children become winners in life. It is simply It's perfect.
A drop of saliva can tell you what genetic diseases you have, what diseases you are likely to get in the future, and how your appearance will change, so you can prevent it in advance and choose coping methods in advance to make yourself healthier and more beautiful than your peers.
Such a powerful technology can be found by just searching on the Internet. It is simple and convenient, and the price is only two or three hundred. You can use technology to predict the future for the price of a meal, which is simply not as good as action.
If you open the shopping APP and search for genetic testing, you will find that the number of payers for many projects is hundreds or even thousands, and the projects inside are also diverse. There are ancestry analysis, sports genes, nutritional metabolism, health risks, genetic diseases, skin characteristics, psychological traits and so on.
Among them, genetic testing for children is the most popular.
Modern parents are paying more and more attention to the cultivation of their children. Businesses say that through genetic testing of children, they can detect their full set of IQ, EQ, personality, language, painting, music and other talents. Advantageous genes provide directions for the cultivation of future children, but the accuracy of the results cannot be calculated and needs to be "judged by yourself."
The operation method is also relatively simple. After payment, the seller will mail the collection tool to the buyer. The buyer only needs to collect saliva from the child's mouth according to the method and mail it back, and wait a few days to get the test report.
Genetic testing uses specific equipment to detect the DNA molecular information in the cells of the subject, and compares it with the gene library to analyze the various genes it contains, so that people can understand their own Genetic information can predict the body's risk of disease, avoid or delay the occurrence of disease by improving one's living environment and behavioral habits, or determine whether there are specific drug targets in cases where malignant diseases have already occurred, so as to optimize treatment methods. The selection is more precise.
Detection can be carried out using oral mucosal epithelial cells in saliva. Theoretically, DNA can be extracted from most cells in the body, including oral mucosal epithelial cells, which have the characteristics of strong metabolism, rapid renewal, and easy shedding, and can be naturally shed into saliva. Such cells have complete The human genomic DNA sequence.
Compared with blood testing, saliva testing has the advantages of being non-invasive, easy to collect, easy to transport, and avoiding legal risks (most commercial genetic testing companies do not have medical qualifications, and blood testing may be illegal). Under normal circumstances, genetic testing can be performed as long as the saliva is collected strictly in accordance with the operating instructions.
But in fact, the scope of genetic testing is limited.
There is a certain degree of credibility in predicting disease risk through genetic testing. However, in China, only NIPT (non-invasive DNA prenatal screening) and drug metabolism gene testing technologies can be used clinically. Testing, genetic disease diagnosis, pre-implantation embryo genetic diagnosis, and tumor diagnosis and treatment can only be carried out at qualified medical institutions or testing institutions. In fact, there are many imprecisions in commercial genetic testing and its feasibility is low.
It can be said that it is completely untrustworthy to understand a child's physical ability, musicality, painting, IQ, and emotional intelligence through genetic testing.
These contents involve quite complex mechanisms. With the current technical conditions, humans have not yet understood the mechanism at the protein level, and it is even less possible to go deep into the genetic level.
Many people may do genetic testing with a fortune-telling mentality, and would rather believe it or not. However, in fact, there is a risk of privacy leakage when doing genetic testing.
When we perform genetic testing, we have to hand over the saliva we collect to genetic testing companies, allowing these companies to master our genetic data, but in fact these companies have no right to obtain our genetic data. .
Handing over your genetic data at will will bring great risks. We are not sure where these companies will use their genes. Once the information is leaked, it will not only be to ourselves, but also to future generations. Bring trouble.
Technology brings us a better experience, but ordinary people have limited knowledge of technology and can easily be exploited during its application. As technology develops faster in the future, the harm that privacy leaks may cause will become more and more serious. Therefore, ordinary people must be cautious and go to a regular medical institution for consultation if necessary, and do not hand over their genes easily.