I believe the vast majority of children will continue to be the result of a careless moment, As are the vast majority of new marriages. (Q: What is the most common marriage proposal? A: YOU'RE WHAT???)

Still, if someone has to go thru the trouble of having an embryo implanted and all the hassles that goes along with being infertile or having extreme difficulty concieving a child, why not give them the bonus of designing it?

In the movie Gattica you had designer children and God children. I think that scenario is a long way from becoming the norm.

I really don't have a problem with this.

OK folks, educate me. What am I missing here?

[edit on 12-1-2007 by mrwupy]

Actually its been there for a while. I can recall adds in the Stanford University newspaper years ago seeking egg and sperm donors that met certain criteria incuding GPA, IQ, height and weight eye and hair color. No doubt trying to get those exact traits in an offspring using In Vitro. This is more of a sure thing for the money I quess

As far as the women quoted goes what if she was that ugly stupid kid her parents were trying to avoid

Sometimes I wonder as technologies advance, and seeing how people actually behave, (not the way they want you to believe they are) now and in the future, I believe more and more young couples especially those who are striving to be successful in every aspect in life will, when given a choice, easily opt to have a "perfect child" either from select donors, or perhaps some genetically altered embryo.

What will be the future implications?

Who knows, I read an article in a magazine once that exposed a prototype home kit that would let any perspective parents choose the sex of their child before conception... I wont get into the details, but with this kit at that time it gave about an 80% chance of a desired outcome for the parent.. Now in a poll in the same article, when young couples were asked if they could choose the sex of their first baby, which would it be.. The vast majority selected Boy. If this kit were readily available, and enough used it over a few decades, the future could be overpopulated with males.

I guess some things would be best left alone, however after reading the article in the OP, I am convinced that now and into the future, it will not be left alone.

If you plan to have a perfect home, perfect life, why wouldn't you choose to have a perfect child? well maybe not you... but you know!

People are already getting very wealthy doing these kind of things.

[edit on 12-1-2007 by UM_Gazz]