Scott responds to three concerns about embryo selection: embryo personhood rights, loss of trait diversity, and the ethics of preventing disabilities, arguing that none of these objections are fatal to the technology. Longer summary

Scott Alexander responds to three major concerns about embryo selection raised in response to a previous post. First, he addresses whether embryos have personhood rights, arguing that embryos lack the qualities (consciousness, intelligence, etc) that make humans morally valuable. He refutes various counterarguments about potential personhood and responds to edge cases like sleeping hermits. Second, he discusses concerns about trait diversity, arguing that the technology's limited power and slow adoption mean diversity concerns are premature. Third, he addresses the ethics of telling disabled people you'd prefer they didn't exist, comparing it to other situations where we try to prevent certain conditions without devaluing existing people. Shorter summary

Scott Alexander argues that using polygenic screening to select low-risk embryos can be considered as preventing genetic disorders, drawing parallels with other accepted preventive practices. Longer summary

Scott Alexander discusses the ethical implications of using polygenic screening to select embryos with lower risk of genetic disorders, specifically schizophrenia. He argues that this practice can be considered as prevention of the disorder, despite objections that it's merely replacing a high-risk individual with a low-risk one. To support his argument, Scott presents three analogous situations: preventing fetal alcohol syndrome, selecting embryos in IVF, and preventing child abuse through parenting workshops. He concludes that polygenic selection is ethically comparable to these widely accepted practices and can be fairly described as preventing schizophrenia. Shorter summary

Scott Alexander discusses the birth of the first polygenically-screened baby and explores the current and potential future applications of this technology in IVF. Longer summary

Scott Alexander discusses the birth of the first polygenically-screened baby, explaining the process of in vitro fertilization (IVF) and how polygenic screening works. He describes how this technology can be used to reduce the risk of genetic diseases and potentially select for other traits. The post covers the current capabilities of polygenic screening, its potential future applications, and some ethical considerations. Scott also mentions the first polygenically screened baby, named Aurea, born to a family with a history of breast cancer. Shorter summary