Genetic engineering / Eugenics

[Goro]

So the gloves come off, ethics are buried and all those geneticists working in black labs around the world are allowed free rein. What do you think could be done, with todays genetics, to bring about super soldiers, crazy powers and all that?
And do you think that somewhere, a human clone built by one of those labs is flexing it's tail and learning to shoot bees from it's wrists?

 

[Saelune]

Well, theres Captain America, but also Agent 47. Though Agent 47 is not so bad really.

 

[TacticalAssassin1]

Honestly, I don't think that would be a bad idea.
Imagine all the diseases you could cure way faster than they are doing now, if you're allowed to experiment on people.

Anywho, I'd like to see the bee plasmid from bioshock. *chuckles*

 

[Dags90]

Genetically altered pathogens are much easier to work with. With today's genetics technology without ethics you probably wouldn't see anything particularly significant with humans for several decades. Even then you'd see things like increased muscle mass and such.

 

[manaman]

I think we would be lucky to make a human clone without serious defects, let alone anything even close to super powers. Which are fiction and nothing else, in case you didn't know. You might see more efficient bodies that are stronger, faster, heightened reaction, better memories, etc. Anything out of a comic book through, more impossible then simply out of our grasp.

Genetic research isn't quite as hindered by morality as you are thinking. Eugenics is, but I am perfectly okay with that one.

 

[BonsaiK]

So the gloves come off, ethics are buried and all those geneticists working in black labs around the world are allowed free rein. What do you think could be done, with todays genetics, to bring about super soldiers, crazy powers and all that?
And do you think that somewhere, a human clone built by one of those labs is flexing it's tail and learning to shoot bees from it's wrists?

In a sense, the western world's fighting forces already have "super powers", when you look at all the technological augmentations a modern fighting unit has on the battlefield. I don't think they're very effective though in the long term, as modern wars are all very ideological, and bullets have never been an effective way to combat ideas. Messing about with genetics wouldn't change that.

 

[HapexIndustries]

I'm all for it. We'll either destroy ourselves or usher in a new era. As a transhumanist I can't wait for this to happen. Millions of people will die, but whatevs. I'm cool with that. My children's children's children will be reaping the benefits as they live healthy, essentially immortal existences, free of the tethers of random biology and evolution.

 

[moretimethansense]

Well, theres Captain America, but also Agent 47. Though Agent 47 is not so bad really.

These are the last words of saelune typed moments before his unfortunate accident.

OP
We'd probebly figure a lot of shit out about diseases.
We'd probebly have switched to cloned meat at some point as well.

 

[Thaluikhain]

In a sense, the western world's fighting forces already have "super powers", when you look at all the technological augmentations a modern fighting unit has on the battlefield. I don't think they're very effective though in the long term, as modern wars are all very ideological, and bullets have never been an effective way to combat ideas. Messing about with genetics wouldn't change that.

Eh, not just the military. I mean, look at DC's Oracle...her power is using the internet and having lots of people on speed dial.

Apart from being in a relationship with Nightwing, despite Huntress being much cooler, theoretically all sorts of people could be her. Or at least Proxy, who is suspiciously similar, except for being single.

 

[Twilight_guy]

Considering that many labs do already ignore morals and do what they want (just without the big budgets of more public projects) probably not much. We still know very little about the absolutes of genetics and how to effectively control them. I suppose you could clone people (and store your clones in the fridge for body parts) but I'm not sure what else we can do.

 

[Wolfenbarg]

So the gloves come off, ethics are buried and all those geneticists working in black labs around the world are allowed free rein. What do you think could be done, with todays genetics, to bring about super soldiers, crazy powers and all that?
And do you think that somewhere, a human clone built by one of those labs is flexing it's tail and learning to shoot bees from it's wrists?

The last time America went crazy about Eugenics, it led the entire world down a path of incredibly bad science, and luckily most of them backed out of forced sterilizations long before we did. There is plenty of good that genetic engineering can do, but the entire concept of eugenics hasn't been used for much good in the past, so I wouldn't really like to see a return to it.

How bout they cure cancer before making a super soldier, eh?

Or make a drug that prevents all heart disease? That would be better actually.

This would be a nice step. I doubt they could prevent heart disease completely, but they surely could come up with something that stops the inflammation that typically leads to it.