How sex ed has changed.

In the future, perhaps as early as 2045, will most planned pregnancies be conceived in the in vitro fertilization (IVF) lab; the eggs, sperm and embryos comprehensively screened for genetic disease-associated mutations, ranked and scored for probabilities of more poorly-defined traits, and subjected to all sorts of genetic modifications? Will parents of the future face something between an opportunity and an obligation to dial in and dial out the traits that define their (or their insurance company’s) vision of a perfect baby: minimizing disease risks, maximizing talents and desired physical attributes and abilities, and when necessary trading one predisposition for another?

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It’s time to clear a section on the bookshelf for a future of reproduction section. In addition to Hacking Darwin, I would highly recommend Carl Zimmer’s She Has Her Mother’s Laugh and Hank Greely’s The End of Sex and the Future of Human Reproduction, together an excellent start to a syllabus for the new sex ed.