Ok here's the prompt: A eugenics tool this powerful will eventually be misused in humans.
Thoughts?
Thoughts?
Humans are pretty pair bonding. It would need selective pressure and would take generations. There would need to be way too many suddenly appearing partners or modifications. Even if it somehow worked to say result in sterility it could be undone. Given that the trap would take generations and the state of the art advances it could well be completely effortlessly defeated because everyone is having genetic diseases and cancer risk factors removed from their children anyway.
It has been my private head canon for a number of years that the Gerudo race in the Legend of Zelda are the result of an attempted gene drive to exterminate Hylians. The fact that their offspring are (almost) exclusively female suggests it, and attaching the modification to a (literal) fitness increase would be a reasonable way to try to help it achieve fixation sooner.
Well, looks like I'm going to have the Gerudo Desert theme stuck in my head for the rest of the night.
Could we undo it? Since CRISPR modifications have side effects, would we feel safe trying to undo it? Where would we draw the line?
If the mad scientist targeted broccoli bitterness, maybe we would let it pass, especially if we detected the attack after hundreds or thousands of people had been affected. The cure could be more dangerous than the disease.
If the mad scientist decided to try to give everyone blue eyes, maybe we'd act more aggressively to undo it?
I don't think the answers are obvious. And since these are not billion-dollar experiments, it could be a real concern.
> Could we undo it? Since CRISPR modifications have side effects, would we feel safe trying to undo it? Where would we draw the line?
We do not even know how to do what you are proposing, so why should we know how to undo it? The only answer here I can give you is that we do not seem to see gene drives in nature a lot. If such a powerful tool would exist, evolution (aka selfish genes) would certainly want to use it but at the same time become very inventive to find strategies against it. For example, endogenous retroviruses are a thing, but we still do not see them in action much.