Huh. I wonder how long it'll be before people have to worry about having their genomes published on the internet, and people doing weird obnoxious stuff with it. Like, somebody manages to get a DNA sample from a celebrity, and then random women are paying for synthesized embryos so they can have their kids, without the celebrity being involved or approving in any way. You know, weird shit like that. :/
@Angle This would be a fantastic start to a dystopian book. I could see lots of things to do with it.
But as for reality? Hard to say. Gotta remember that sperm isn’t the full genome, it’s half, which comes from a DNA source that hasn’t been changing because of age/damage like the rest of you.
So there are some pretty complex barriers to get over and logistical, it may not be worth the effort to invest in figuring out how to get from skin cell DNA to sperm DNA.
@Angle In short, I’d put the time table between distant future and never.
Side note. This is why cloning has so many problems. Your DNA changes over your lifetime. Mostly, it shortens (which is related to aging and life expectancy) and picks up nasty mutations (cancer).
To clone/make babies, you need to start with stem cells and those are hard to get ahold of even when you go seeking them.
@Angle Actually, this bit would make a frightening dystopia.
So you want to have the movie star’s baby? Well, the price is they only live 10-15 years and will die of cancer. People do it anyway, knowing they get all the fun of having this kid, and none of the longterm investment of education or medical. Now that’s scary.
@KARiley40 Eh, I don't think things would go quite that poorly. The way I see it, either they'd be smart enough to fix the genes (99% of genes are the same between all humans, so really you just pick out the relevant changes, copy them over into a baseline template, and you're good to go), or the shop doesn't even bother getting the stars genes in the first place and just changes eye and hair color to match, (and maybe skin) and lies about the rest. :/
@Angle It’s not that easy. You start fiddling with one part, it affects others. Example. Domestication in canines is linked with fur color, tail length, ear flop, ect. Eye and skin color have a lot of genes with them and possibly even some non-genetic parts. Then you got hedgehog genes to fiddle with.
@Angle Oh and then, you have to identify where the deletions, insertions, and changes have occurred, which will be different on every cell in a given person. It’ll be hell to do.
Far, far easier to pay that person for their sperm/egg and change the culture to make it less taboo of a thing to do.
Heck, I’d see that happening sooner than massive genetic editing.
@Angle Actually, that too would make a fantastic dystopian novel as women are selecting the men they want to have the kids of from a database, with guys being tested for intelligence, appearance, hobbies, ect, and they get paid for every donation.
@Angle Also! Ty for lots of fantastic ideas with this. Managed to write 2,000 words toward it and work a little on world building. Just need a plot.