[FRIAM] semi-idle question

[Steve Smith]

Pieter said:

> /"Humans will no longer evolve."/
>
> I agree humans will no longer evolve by natural selection. Not that
> I'm predicting anything, but how can anybody say with any kind of
> confidence that humans will not evolve by gene editing in the future?

I take your point, but insist that gene editing is not evolution, it is
engineering.   If gene (esp. germline) editing were widely available and
as freely accessible as say tattoos or piercings, then I might concede
that we might see some "evolution" with the intentional editing itself
representing the "mutation" and "popularity" being the fitness
function.  I'm seeing a scene from the Quark's Bar or Men in Black about
now.

My neo-luddite paranoia makes me expect something more like a Star Wars
"clone-army", "supersoldiers" or *worse*?  Welle's Eloi or Atwoods
Crakers to happen at the hands of "those in power" which weaves this
thread back into the one(s) about power, wealth, etc.

DaveW:  If you were a chemtrail conspiracist you would believe that the
gubm'tn (and elitist ???s) are *already* experimenting with building a
mega-parasol in the upper atmosphere.  Maybe Elon Musk will announce an
exaptation of his Starlink arrays to have larger and larger solar panels
that are orientable like mini-blinds.   The amateur (and professional)
astronomers will *really scream* about that?

My problem with engineering vs evolution is that *at best* we bring our
best *systems thinking* to understanding the  systems in place which we
are mucking with and then our best *design thinking*  and then build
episystems on top of the last system we built, iterating asymptotically
toward some recognized/stated/desired goal.   And THAT assumes we know
what a good goal is, and that there are not unintended consequences, etc.  

Of course, evolution is nothing if not "unintended consequences" by some
measure (up to "what means intention?").  

I don't know if it is utopian or dystopian to imagine a planet paved
over entirely with golf courses and PV panels... maybe some would need a
few WestWorld Adventure Parks to satisfy everyone?

Engineer on!

- Steve


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