Imagine a factory that can produce 30,000 babies a year. Imagine going to the baby store and having your baby customized to the eye and hair colors you want. Imagine, too, choosing that baby’s height and, then, deciding what level of intelligence you want it to have.
Then, you sit back and wait while this baby grows and develops in an artificial womb. Nine months later you collect your baby and live your life.
If it sounds like a plot for a science fiction movie, know that it’s not imaginary. It’s real, and it’s not that far down the road in the future. The technology is available now. The only thing keeping the baby store from opening is that little annoying thing called ethics.
If only regulators would open the flood gates, the world and thousands of proud parents of designer babies could be welcoming these offspring in as few as 10 years, the company’s founder, Berlin-based biotechnologist Hashem Al-Ghaili, says. The company’s name is EctoLife, and as many as 400 babies could get their start right here, right now, with the signal to go ahead and do it.
When it does happen, it will all be good, Al-Ghalili says. Inherited genetic diseases can be avoided. Childless couples can start planning birthday parties. And there’s a bonus — it’s all going to be done with renewable energy.
SOURCE:
The U.S. Sun December 13, 2022