Re: B Ark Colonist and Colonial Industry... [LONG[

Thank you, Binhan. All excellent points that arise from extending the
technology ust a tad further and thinking about what happens. 
And you're quite correct, I think... this level of technology, used to
any extent in society, would probably invalidate a lot of the
lineage-related problems our current society has.

Excellent train of thought!

B Lin wrote:
> 
> In future tech it would be moot to track heredity through either
parent.
> 
> a) Fetuses will be modified in vitro or pre-utero to remove the most
dangerous genetic defects - you will no longer be limited to what your
parents DNA offers.  If you alter the DNA enough are you still your
parent's child?
> 
> b) Maternity is traced through the mitochondria DNA - the power
organelles supplied by the egg.  In the future, with cloning, the person
who donates the egg, may not be the same people who contribute the DNA.
> 
> c) What if there is no mother?  If the person in question is a clone
or received combined DNA from two males or received DNA from more than
two people then paternity/maternity is a far more complex item.
> 
> d) It will become less of an issue of who your parents are than who
you are.  No longer will your parent's genes, grandparent's genes or
great grand parents genes matter.  As stock brokers say - previous
performance is not an indicator for future results.  Your genes for
intelligence, strength, health, eyesight, hearing etc will be modified
to be the best that genes can provide, regardless of what your parents
had.  Saying that, this service may not be generally available, and
perhaps only the richest of the rich will be able to afford to custom
design their children.	In this case, having a complete genomic record
on file might become standard. (see GATTACA)

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