On Genetic Screenings and Embryonic Selection

More lottery tickets!

Genetic screening, plus embryonic selection, allows for parents to improve the expected quality of their children. While these claims are still contested, leading companies like Herasight claim to be able to raise the IQ of your child by 8 points. If true, this is enormous. The value of an IQ point is approximately $12,000 dollars over a lifetime (although the math gets a bit fuzzy, as the effect is generally in logs and so dependent on your starting point), which is clearly above the cost of IVF (which is anywhere from $25,000 to $35,000). Given that smarter people are superior in every respect – they are more productive, kinder, more generous, more cooperative, more competent, more humble – it would be great to have more of them.

Some people are concerned, however, that this will lead to greater inequality. They are concerned that some people would be locked out of an elite because their parents failed to iterate on their embryos. I do not, however, think this is that serious of a concern. This is inequality which would entirely affect the upper middle class, and not affect the poor in the slightest. If one agrees entirely with John Rawls, and thinks that we should accept a world which maximizes the well-being of the least of us, we must therefore accept this.