G: Unnatural Selection

Radiolab

WNYC Studios

History, Science, Documentary, Natural Sciences, Society & Culture

4.6 • 44.5K Ratings

🗓️ 26 July 2019

⏱️ 34 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This past fall, a scientist named Steve Hsu made headlines with a provocative announcement. He would start selling a genetic intelligence test to couples doing IVF: a sophisticated prediction tool, built on big data and machine learning, designed to help couples select the best embryo in their batch. We wondered, how does that work? What can the test really say? And do we want to live in a world where certain people can decide how smart their babies will be? This episode was produced by Simon Adler, with help from Rachael Cusick and Pat Walters. Fact-checking by Michelle Harris. Engineering help from Jeremy Bloom. Special thanks to Catherine Bliss. Radiolab’s “G” is supported in part by Science Sandbox, a Simons Foundation initiative dedicated to engaging everyone with the process of science. Support Radiolab today at Radiolab.org/donate.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Wait, you're listening.
0:03.1	Okay.
0:04.4	All right.
0:05.6	Okay.
0:07.0	All right.
0:08.5	You're listening to Radio Lab.
0:11.4	Radio Lab.
0:11.9	From W. NY.
0:13.9	See?
0:14.8	See?
0:15.1	Yeah.
0:19.2	Hey, this is Radio Lab.
0:21.8	I'm Pat Walters.
0:25.8	And today we have the fifth episode of our miniseries.
0:34.3	Last episode, we had a story from Lulu Miller about eugenics. It was all about scientists who were applying the Darwinian idea that species
0:38.6	can be shaped by natural selection to humans, to us. Like, instead of waiting for nature to
0:44.8	choose which individuals of the human species were most, quote, unquote, fit, they thought
0:51.2	they could speed things along, and in the process, the process create like a perfect human race,
0:56.6	which as we got into last time was a disaster.
1:00.5	And at a certain point, Lulu argued that these eugenicists
1:03.5	in emphasizing their one narrow idea of perfection
1:08.3	over everything else,
	...

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