As the first guests began to trickle in, the conversation turned,
as these things do,
to the ethics of gene-editing embryos to create custom babies.
“I would actually argue that the ethical questions probably aren’t as big,
because kids already don’t choose their genes,” said
#Malcolm #Collins,
a slight, bespectacled influencer who had helped organize the gathering.
“I think that we’re really close to a subculture where this is normalized
—a right-wing subculture.”
His wife, #Simone, busily filling bowls with chips, nodded in agreement.
She was dressed for the evening in a white wide-brimmed bonnet, a peasant blouse, and an austere, calf-length black jumper;
her daughter,
1-year-old
#Industry #Americus,
lounged in a carrier on her back.
She and her husband, she said, were comfortable with the idea of #designer #babies;
-- after all, Industry and her three older siblings,
all under the age of 7,
had been created with the help of a company 👉that said it could
analyze their embryos’ genetic makeup to screen for genetic illnesses,
depression, and schizophrenia,
as well as predict their intelligence.
Yet Simone wasn’t convinced that the world needed bespoke babies
—the process would be too expensive,
and with all the hormone shots,
monitoring, and precise timing,
too cumbersome to get the job done at scale.
“IVF isn’t going to move the needle on birth rates,” she said.
The Collinses and some 200 others were in Austin that weekend for #NatalCon,
a conference held at the University of Texas at Austin for #pronatalists,
people who believe that falling birthrates the world over imperil humanity
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2025/03/this-is-a-war-and-natalism-is-our-sword-and-shield-my-weekend-with-the-pronatalists/