Welcome to Axis ProRata, a podcast that takes just 10 minutes to get you smarter on the collision of tech business and politics.

I'm Dan Pramak. On today's show, the fall of Silicon Valley's so-called adults, and why you might soon see the Marlboro Man vaping.

But first, editing babies. Yeah, you heard that correctly, editing babies, or technically embryos via a genetic editing technology

called CRISPR.

It's something that's been discussed for a while in medical and ethicist circles, but jumped

into the mainstream this past weekend when a Chinese scientist named Hu Jinkwe claimed

to have created the world's first genetically

engineered child. Actually, two of them, twin girls, whose genes were allegedly modified

to help make them immune to HIV infection later in life. Now, before continuing, it's important

to emphasize the allegedly, as Kui's claims have not been independently confirmed and he might even face some legal

jeopardy, even though China's rules on this are a bit murky.

But whether or not Quay successfully pulled it off, this isn't really a question of technological

ability.

Gene editing is getting more advanced by the day, and so if it can't yet be successfully

applied to embryos, that's probably just a matter of time.

The bigger question is if it should be.

The real concern here isn't so much about closing a door to the HIV virus.

That's at least a goal almost everyone would probably be able to get behind.

Instead, it's more about two other things, and the first

one is safety. So it's one thing to take chances on consenting adults and a very different

thing to do it with babies. And in this particular case, there's even some questions about

how much the parents really knew. Plus, embryos present all sorts of complicated scientific

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