Interesting Links for 17-02-2020

[andrewducker]

Uber and Lyft said they would ease congestion. Instead they made it worse.

(tags:transport taxi fail )

Prime numbers do not like to repeat themselves

(tags:PrimeNumbers mathematics viaSwampers )

World's first portable, low-cost MRI

(tags:MRI technology healthcare )

Brexit: Ministers refuse to release secret studies believed to show little gain from trade deals with US and Asia

(tags:trade UK Europe Asia USA doom )

Psychedelic Fiber Offers a New Twist on the Science of Knots

(tags:materials mathematics )

A380 basically doing a vertical landing in storm Dennis

(tags:airplanes wind video impressive )

Airbnb Has Devoured London. Here's the Data to Prove It

(tags:housing UK )

Signal is finally bringing its secure messaging to the masses

(tags:security cryptography communication )

What if Frasier was set in the gaming community

(tags:games funny TV viaSwampers )

Star Wars is poly-vocal, and always has been.

(tags:StarWars )

Clinical studies show no effects of soy protein or isoflavones on reproductive hormones in men: results of a meta-analysis

(tags:hormones testosterone food )

Friendship Is Crucial to the Adolescent Brain

(tags:friendship children psychology parenting )

Who wants to see "Back to the Future" With Robert Downey Jr. and Tom Holland? Because now you can

(tags:movies fake video )

We have a British government which refuses to criticise eugenics

(tags:UK OhForFucksSake BorisJohnson )

Comments

[danieldwilliam]

The conversation about eugenics was both "interesting" and interesting.

(I look forward to the next 20-30 years and the economic success of China and Africa reducing the scope for white supremicists to get above themselves.)

The reminder that you can't separate a discussion about whether the state ought to be able to mandate the breeding of "better" humans from a discussion about what "better" means and the ideological concepts that inform that notion of "better" or from a discussion about what the limits on state power ought to be more generally and for whom is the state acting and why is always a timely one.

What I did find interesting was some of the discussion about what eugenics meant and it got me thinking about other forms of purposeful interference in the human genetic pool.

We will see more people being given more information about their genetic make up and the genetic make up of their potential children and presumably making choices about whether to have those potential children. I think we see it already with things like Huntingdon's disease and Down's Syndrome. I suspect we'll see in the near future parents who have genetic predisposition to early cancer or early onset dementia being selective about their offspring. Or perhaps short-sightedness.

And presumably traits like intelligence or sexuality or Asperger's to the extent that there is a genetic factor involved become potentially open to parental selection. Up to a point and in practice.

I wonder where we will land on the ethics of parental private selection for traits. When considering this we probably ought to consider the notion of a modal monopoly. If every parent selects for blue eyes and a passion for chocolate digestives then that's all we'll have.

I was also pondering on assortative mating in 21st century economies and how that might drive the genetic composition of a population but I didn't get very far with that.

[armiphlage]

Huntington's runs in my family, so I am very much in favour of public funding for genetic testing, so potential parents have information about potential issues. Plus free, readily accessible contraception for everyone.

But I agree that having parents screen out non-life-threatening traits, or add other traits other than those needed to preserve life and prevent suffering, could easily lead to problems. Humans are very prone to fads - just look at home decor. Imagine the equivalent of shag carpet and popcorn ceilings, but wrought in flesh and passed down through generations. Or parents desiring slim children would opt for high metabolic rates and zero body fat - and their grandchildren would be the first to die in a future famine.

[cmcmck]

I thought Cummings was terrifying, but this thing..............

[anna_wing]

Given most people's utter ignorance of basic science, I suspect that parental attempts to select for transiently fashionable characteristics in their offspring will be less easily accommodated than we fear.

[supergee]

"It is evident that the primes are randomly distributed but, unfortunately, we do not know what “random” means"--Robert Vaughan, FRS