A case for letting parents choose their children's genetic traits through IVF, from height and intelligence to eye color. The speaker argues doctors shouldn't gatekeep these decisions and proposes a software platform where parents upload embryo data to see disease risks and desirable traits side by side.
We don't put an arbitrary line in the sand and saying, hey, you can get diseases but you can't get traits. We believe in genetic optimization. We believe if couples want access to height or IQ or hair color, eye color, or, you know, alcohol dependency, right, they should have access to that. Another thing is we really believe in the consumer deciding. So this is a different approach than some of the companies that focus on the testing, right, which is we really see it not as the doctor's choice to make the decision, right? If you go to an IVF clinic today, generally speaking, the doctor is the one that's making the embryo. We see it as participatory medicine. So the physician historically has been, I would argue, somewhat of a gatekeeper, somewhat of a blocker. Because now anyone from any IVF clinic, no matter what company they use, can actually take their files, bring it to our software, and then they can literally get insight on every disease, every trait. We are not beholden by the, frankly, more conservative— and I would argue, and I think you would actually see this in IVF clinics today, they often will conflate science for politics. Ashlee Vance!
