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

Most reported associations with intelligence are from underpowered studies and have not replicated in larger samples. That site did not show up in a recent study of 100,000+ people, and generally hasn't been replicated over the last 6 years as sample sizes have exploded.

ETA: Gwern's comment below suggests a relatively plausible explanation for non-replication.

If you look at the fulltext, this is for a mutation analyzed via the old standard Mendelian techniques, not a brute-force SNP analysis, as your link refers to:

Fortunately, the process of Mendelian inheritance allows a further robust test of the causality of the Arg844His mutation to be performed, avoiding the usual problems of confounding from other variables that might aggregate in a familial fashion but might be unlinked to the mutation. To test the relevance of the mutation, affected and unaffected first‐degree sibs in each generation (II:2, II:6, II:

... (read more)

0zslastman13y

I haven't read the paper myself, only been referred to it. It also violates my expectations about low hanging evolutionary fruit but the link with blindness provides at least some explanation. Also cannot read your link. Do you know is that same variant actually in present in the population, or is it just that variants in the same gene haven't shown association? It may be that only that specific variant has the gain of function phenotype, and that it hasn't been present at high enough frequencies in other populations to show 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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