• Question: I would like to know what you think the boundaries should be ethically for gene alteration? Should we be able to modify the 'perfect' human? Or just leave the human race to live naturally?

    Asked by 274genm52 to Matt on 14 Mar 2018.
    • Photo: Matt Bawn

      Matt Bawn answered on 14 Mar 2018:


      hey great and extremely complex question. The problem with creating or trying to create a ‘perfect’ human is. what makes a perfect human?

      what would you define as the perfect human?

      The human genome only contains around 20000 genes, this is not a lot, for example it is possible for bacteria to have 12000 genes:

      https://www.nature.com/articles/srep02101

      This then suggests that perhaps in the human genome especially the interaction of genes in a gene expression network is potentailly very complex.
      If that is true altering a gene that you assume is responsible for a specific trait would undoubtedly have other effects, this may not increase the “perfection” that you were aiming for.
      Also evolution is a dynamic process and is driven by the environment, if we make a perfect human for the current environment it may be that we would become less adaptable to environmental change in the future.

      “all is for the best, in the best of all possible worlds”

Comments