New article on in vitro iterated embryo selection

CarlShulman

The article by Robert Sparrow:

A series of recent scientific results suggest that, in the not-too-distant future, it will be possible to create viable human gametes from human stem cells. This paper discusses the potential of this technology to make possible what I call ‘in vitro eugenics’: the deliberate breeding of human beings in vitro by fusing sperm and egg derived from different stem-cell lines to create an embryo and then deriving new gametes from stem cells derived from that embryo. Repeated iterations of this process would allow scientists to proceed through multiple human generations in the laboratory. In vitro eugenics might be used to study the heredity of genetic disorders and to produce cell lines of a desired character for medical applications. More controversially, it might also function as a powerful technology of ‘human enhancement’ by allowing researchers to use all the techniques of selective breeding to produce individuals with a desired genotype.

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However, to my knowledge, the current paper is the first to explicitly discuss the possibility of the iterative use of this technology for reproductive purposes

The possibility was discussed in MIRI's "Uncertain Future" toy forecasting model back in 2009, and the analysis formulated a few years before that.

ETA: And further discussed in James Miller's recent book, "Singularity Rising."

The article by Robert Sparrow:

A series of recent scientific results suggest that, in the not-too-distant future, it will be possible to create viable human gametes from human stem cells. This paper discusses the potential of this technology to make possible what I call ‘in vitro eugenics’: the deliberate breeding of human beings in vitro by fusing sperm and egg derived from different stem-cell lines to create an embryo and then deriving new gametes from stem cells derived from that embryo. Repeated iterations of this process would allow scientists to proceed through multiple human generations in the laboratory. In vitro eugenics might be used to study the heredity of genetic disorders and to produce cell lines of a desired character for medical applications. More controversially, it might also function as a powerful technology of ‘human enhancement’ by allowing researchers to use all the techniques of selective breeding to produce individuals with a desired genotype.

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However, to my knowledge, the current paper is the first to explicitly discuss the possibility of the iterative use of this technology for reproductive purposes

I'm not sure what you mean by 'normal breeding of adults', but Hsu's proposal would be basically an augmented IVF: you do IVF as usual, sequence each of the embryos to get an estimate of IQ/whatever, and implant the highest-scoring one (usually referred to as just 'PGD'); the embryo develops into an adult, and you repeat the process.

Each generation could get a boost of maybe 5 points (it depends on how many embryos you can produce and how accurate your estimate is and how much of IQ turns out to be genuinely genetic), so in a century that could add up to quite a bit.

Ah I see, so the selection step is still in vitro, but not the entire lifecycle of an iteration. The wording had been confusing me. Thanks for clearing that up!

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New article on in vitro iterated embryo selection

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New article on in vitro iterated embryo selection

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