Sex For Reproduction May Be Obsolete Within 30 Years Thanks To New Technology, Professor Predicts

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Publish Date:
July 5, 2017
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Medical Daily
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Summary

Sure, the main purpose of sex is procreation, but according to one researcher, in as little as 30 years, we may have more efficient and cheaper ways of making babies than good ole fashioned intercourse. According to Hank Greely, the director of Stanford Law School’s Center for Law and Biosciences, human reproduction may become automated faster than you realize.

Greely believes that within three decades, people will no longer have sex as a way to reproduce, and instead rely on genetically edited embryos grown from skin-derived stem cells, not the combination of an egg or sperm, The Independent reported. According to Greely, this process ensures that the embryo is free from any devastating genetic diseases, and would also be cheaper in the long run because of the money it would save in healthcare over the years. What’s more, Greely predicts that couples would be able to choose other genetic traits in their children, such as physical features and intelligence.

“I don’t think we’re going to be able to say this embryo will get a 1550 on its two-part SAT,” Greely said this week at Aspen Ideas Festival, Quartz reported, “But, this embryo has a 60% chance of being in the top half, this embryo has a 13% chance of being in the top 10%—I think that’s really possible.”

There’s also the worry that being able to genetically manipulate your offspring may lead to a eugenics situation where less favorable traits get written out of the human genome forever. However, Greely also believes this is not the case.

“This is not designer babies or super babies,” said Greely, Quartz reported. “This is selecting embryos. You take two people, all you can get out of a baby is what those two people have.”

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