Steven Pinker recently noted, children born with specs desired by parents are now a scientific possibility. Should this be left only for mum-and-dad to decide? Some ethicists say yes
Cognitive psychologist and professor at Harvard, Steven Pinker, in a recent tweet, referred to his 2003 prediction that parents wouldn’t opt for direct gene-editing of embryos for higher IQ. He called it the “designer baby myth”. But, as Pinker noted, parents seem to have found another way – selecting the smartest from a range of embryos. While direct gene-editing is banned for reproduction, there’s a market for ‘designer babies’ in IVF and ART.