From New York Times opinion, I'm Ross Douthad, and this is interesting times.

One of the most powerful ideas in Silicon Valley

is the theory that everything should have some kind of technological solution,

even the very basic challenge of bringing healthy children into the world.

My guest today is the founder of a Silicon Valley startup, Orchid, that promises a new

level of genetic testing for embryos, screening for the likelihood of common diseases in

childhood and adulthood, as well as for genetic abnormalities.

The science of this testing is fraught and controversial, but the vision she's offering is sweeping,

a future where most couples, not just those struggling with infertility, use IVF to screen

and select their children in advance,

and where the human experience of reproduction is radically transformed.

Nur Siddiqui, welcome to interesting times.

Thank you so much for having me.

I want to start by talking about what it is that your company, Orchid, does, and promises.

And I thought I'd try and do that by presenting myself to you as a prospective client.

Now, this will require a little bit of imagination since I'm actually a 45-year-old man who has many children.

But let's imagine, for the sake of this conversation, that my wife and I are about 30 years old.

We're healthy, not to our knowledge, infertile.

We want to start a family.

But we've read that genetic testing is advancing rapidly. Like most people, we have

some medical issues on either side of the family tree, and we're interested in doing right by our

potential offspring. So we come to you guys to Orchid for, I guess, a consultation. What do you tell

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