Genetic Frontiers: Genetic Engineering's Impact on Future Generations

Can genetic engineering redefine our world? Step into an exploration of genetic engineering's history and future as I, Bobby Frost, journey through its transformative power and ethical dilemmas. From the discovery of DNA's structure in the 1950s to the groundbreaking creation of genetically modified foods and FDA-approved human insulin, we trace the milestones that have shaped this fascinating field. We'll confront controversial moments, like the gene-edited babies scandal in China, and ponder the moral questions looming over this rapidly advancing technology. As Thanksgiving approaches and I navigate podcasting solo, I also share a slice of my life and a personal update about my son's new passion for basketball.

Our discussion takes a deeper look into how genetic engineering could influence societal norms, especially within the Black community. Imagine a world where parents have the choice to alter their children's traits to fit beauty standards—what would that mean for culture and ethics? By drawing parallels to significant historical technological shifts, like the cotton gin, we highlight how innovation continuously reshapes human experience. To wrap up, I invite you to connect with me online, whether you're into college football, NBA 2K, or just looking for engaging conversations. Join me on social media under Bobby Frost Media, and let’s build community together.

Transcript

Genetic Engineering and Ethical Considerations

Speaker 1 0:00

Yo yo yo, it's your boy, bobby Frost. And Bobby Frost Media presents Tri-Parency. Um, I got a couple messages about where the other co-host was at and all, like I said, they've been having a lot of stuff going on in their life so they ain't been getting in to be able to record. So for those that's wondering, I don't know, y'all give me some feedback, because I'm thinking like, should I keep it going under Tri-Parency or should I rename it, because I've been doing it solo. So y'all get back with me and let me know how y'all feel about that. Would y'all want me to keep it at Tri-Parency? Would y'all want me to rename it? Because we don't have the beautiful ladies at the time? So how y'all been doing? We getting closer to Thanksgiving I'm closer to the end of the year I hawk out. It's getting colder. You know how that go. I ain't been doing too much of anything really, but just really sitting back getting my son ready for sports. He's trying out for basketball, so he getting into that, and that's all I've been on. I want to dive straight into it. I want to know how y'all feel about genetically engineering things in the world, meaning if I got to like, really go into it be genetic engineering. Like I want to know how y'all feel about that. You know I've been researching it for a while. I've been on it for a while because I just see how technology is advancing so quick. Give y'all a quick overview of genetic engineering.

Speaker 1 1:38

Genetic engineering, also known as genetic modification, involves the direct manipulation of an organism's DNA to alter its characteristics. This can include adding, removing or modifying genes to achieve a desired trait. So it's, you know it's crazy with that Quick thing. The concept of genetic engineering dates back to the discovery of the structure of DNA in the 1950s. A key milestone includes the development of recombinant DNA technology in the 1970s, which enabled scientists to combine DNA from different organisms. The first genetically modified organism, gmo, was created in 1973. Since then, genetic engineering has advanced significantly, leading to breakthroughs in medicine, horticulture and biotechnology.

Speaker 1 2:33

And you know that's crazy talking about that, which is wild to me, like that's why I wanted to talk about it. It's just that's the crazy. Things going on so like give you some more little milestones when it comes to GMOs. Things going on so like give you some more little milestones when it comes to GMOs. In 1974, rudolf Janiska I can't say the name and Patrice Mintz created the first GMO animal by introducing foreign DNA into a mouse embryos. First GMO plant was created in 1983. The first GMO food was a tomato and it was sold in 1994. Like, this is crazy, you know what I'm saying. When you really think about this, they also did GMO. They had an animal approved for use what is called aqua advantage salmon, what is called Aquabandits Salmon in 2015. It was approved for food use.

Speaker 1 3:30

And I go back and I really just think about how that aspect in human beings and how it's going to affect us in the future. In 1973, biochemists Herbert Boyer and Stanley Cohen developed genetic engineering by inserting DNA from one bacteria into another and that's where it really kicked off at. And then in 1982, the FDA approved the first consumer GMO product developed through genetic engineering human insulin to treat diabetes. So it's a lot of positive that's come with that. You know for sure it's a lot of positive that's come with that. But then you got to go down where again this is, I think, the biggest thing with humans as a whole when it developed from the beginning of time we're talking about back in Mesotopia. We're talking about Mesotopia we we talking about back in Babylonian times. It always go back to like the advancement in technology, and with that comes it comes to your moral compass and your moral code, how you feel about things.

Speaker 1 4:39

So I'm going to give a quick case study, real quick, about something that had happened and see how y'all feel about it. You know listening to it. So, and don't get me wrong, man, sometimes I butcher names. I ain't one of the ones that's going to get on here and try to edit that. I think that's part of the show. I butcher names, like it's what it is.

Speaker 1 4:59

I don't know if y'all ever watched that one episode on Key and Peele A-Rod. You know what I'm saying. He was making a light joke about how white teachers butcher black kids' names. So he was being a black teacher butchering white names. It's a funny segment. Go check it out. It's a segment in the episode. Go check it out.

Speaker 1 5:20

But anyways, back to the topic. In the case study we're going to look at gene babies. You know another name for designer babies. So John Kuhl, a 2018 Chinese scientist, announced the birth of the first gene-edited babies, claiming to have used CRISP which is an acronym, but it's C-R-I-S-P-R to alter the DNA to make them resistant to HIV. This sparked global outrage due to the ethical concerns about the safety and long-term effect of germline editing, which affects not only the individual but future generations. So, again, like when you do things like that, it got effects on society. And also you know the rest of them kids because you have your recessive and hereditary genes that you get which is wild. You know which is crazy. You know that was that's 2018.

Speaker 1 6:31

In my mind, when I hear stuff like this and I research, I think about when it come public. How long was it being done behind the scenes? When it come public and I ain't a conspiracy theorist, but I do, like you know, check stuff out. You know I tell everybody be aware of things. You know what I'm saying and you know we're going to go with the unintended consequences of things too.

Speaker 1 6:54

Genetic modification can have an off-target effect. For example, in agriculture, gmos might spread modified genes to wild populations, potentially disrupting the ecosystem. So when you start doing that certain organisms, like I say this God got things set up the way he wanted them to run. Once you start interfering with stuff like that and introducing foreign species or invasive species, you change the whole ecosystem in that area. So you have them type of situation going on a lot and that's why I say that with the seed banks, a lot of them, with the GMOs making them more resistant to like certain pests. But by doing that you have side effects too, which might in turn knock down a whole nother organism in that area that feed off them pests. You know what I'm saying? It's a big chain reaction, domino effect that you won't see from the jump, but you'll start seeing it years and decades down the line. You know what I'm saying. That's the thing that I think a lot of them be short-sighted with.

Speaker 1 8:03

And with the designer babies which is crazy, like I read a story and researched it. So with designer baby, again you modifying genes, you know, through the DNA. So that's at a point where you can sit up and say you don't want your kid to have regular dark brown eyes, you want your kids to have light green eyes. You want your kid maybe you are 5'2 as a woman and your mate, husband or baby daddy is 5'6. You want a kid to be over 6 feet? Well, you take that gene out or put the gene in to make the kid taller. Say, if you're white, you want your kid to have blue eyes and blonde hair and to be 6'1". Well, you can put that in the DNA. And then when I read it, I seen it.

Speaker 1 8:55

It was talking about, you know, short people. They don't like to be called midget, no more. So they felt attacked because how many people really going to want their kids to be like that? So, if you are a short person, how do you feel about if you're glad to be that and proud to be that? Now, how many of them are going to be around Cause? How many people going to want their kids to be like that Dwarfism? Who's going to want dwarfism? As for their kid, be like that dwarfism who's gonna want dwarfism as for their kid? I'm I'm just thinking about it. When I researched and watched uh, I watched a news article about it and I researched it. Most people not.

Speaker 1 9:36

So when you start talking about designer babies, you're taking away things that could be helpful and things, and then you're going down a slippery slope. You can take things like diabetes away. If you have a long line running, let's say, lupus or leukemia or ovarian cancer, breast cancer, things of that nature you can take that out. But with all that type of things like that, I don't think that'd be great. But, like I say start going. You might look up and hunt 200 years. You got nothing. But everybody 6-1 and up or 6-6 and up, you get what I'm saying. Like it's a slippery slope. You can make the kid face how you want to make. You know it's crazy when you're doing that.

Speaker 1 10:18

You know genetically engineering and I felt where the short people was feeling that that's a tech, you're going to take them out the world. You know, similar to like how polio was gone once you put the vaccination in. But back in the 20s, 30s and the 10s, polio was big, it was wiping people out. You know, polio was big, it was wiping people out. Polio was huge. And then they got vaccinations for it and voila, you don't hear about polio no more. It's gone.

Speaker 1 10:47

So if you treat dwarfism as a disease or a sickness, then if you're doing genetic modification, genetic engineering, you can wipe them out. After so many generations go. You can wipe them out After so many generations go past. You wipe them out. The trait won't be there no more. That gene won't be there. You know you can wipe it out, which to me is crazy. You know that's just wild and it's a concern all the way around. Just to me it's just crazy. That's just concern all the way around, just to me. It's just crazy. That's just crazy all the way around, like designer babies and the reason why I use designer babies.

Speaker 1 11:28

I was just thinking about how I go, because I watch and you hear me talk about it a lot and don't think I have a problem with it. Do what you want to do, ladies, with your bodies. I'm not against it. I swear I'm not. I'm just against it. When you're from societal pressure, you're making that decision and it's not about you. So I've seen what happened with big butts and small waist. Now Every race is doing it. It's not one race not doing it, every race doing it. And it's almost to the point where it's not cool to be not robust or voluptuous. You know everybody's not built or made to be like that. And what's?

Speaker 1 12:08

I want to really see what's going to be the side effects of all these BBLs and enhancements down the line. How that's going to look when you're in your 60s, your 70s, your 40s, even 40s when you get it. How it's going to look 10, 15, 20 years, 30 years down the line. What's going to be the side effects, because we ain't really got to see that yet you know it ain't been around long enough. So I want to see what the side effects of that is health-wise, how that's going to determine what's going to be the side effects. And that's why I'm with it, because I just watched how that just swept over the world. You know, watching that. It's crazy, how that is now vindication and you know that makes it a certain area in societal status.

Speaker 1 12:56

If you got a fat ass and a small waist, veneers which is crazy, I don't, you know. I would like to know how that looks in 30 years, 20 years, when you're getting veneers. How do that do with your mouth health or your health overall? You know what I'm saying. So that's why I can see if I don't watch the world go through that.

Speaker 1 13:22

I can just imagine if designer babies become available, because that's the big thing too. When you're talking about all this stuff right now, so far away from being the public norm, because when it become the public norm is when it become affordable, so when you can go to your doctor and use your work benefits or a Medicaid or anything like that and start going into designer babies, genetic engineering, modifications, that's when you see the effect. You know, I'm pretty sure some places in the world right now that you can go back door and do things like that, but it's going to cost a whole bunch of money, like it used to be again for BBLs, or even back in the day when it came to breast jobs. Once it started becoming affordable, you can make payments, you can get on payment plans and things of that nature. That's when it becomes accepted and societal times. You know, and the times, and that's what I'm looking at with this. Like man, I wonder how that's going to look. It's just crazy. Like for blacks.

Speaker 1 14:28

You know, one of the things I don't know if anybody ever watched the show by Chris Rock, I want to say it's called Good Hair, but it goes in to show how the black community looks at coarse hair compared to more of a European look with your hair straight and, you know, long and straight. I seen how that went from. Back in the day Women used to sit back and you wouldn't even be able to see them getting their hair done or they want they. You know they had a wig. They wanted to be more what is called natural look. They didn't want you to know his wig. Now it's acceptable women. Let you know they're swiss wigs, you know, without a problem, without a doubt, and I'm thinking to myself and I'm looking at. I'm like man, you know, always.

Speaker 1 15:17

I talked about this in the episode before. It's just societal pressures. Now I think, like, what would black people do if it became more accessible? You know where you can do genetic engineering. Would it be, aka nappy hair? You know coarse hair. How many would have that? Start talking about skin color, the black versus well, not black, but dark versus light. How many would want their kids to come out dark skinned instead of coming out light skinned? You know all that. I mean it goes deep.

Speaker 1 15:52

You know, on the men's side of things, you know a lot of men love to be in sports. You want to achieve, men love to be in sports. You want to achieve in sports and succeed in sports. And when you don't, a lot of parents, you know men live out them dreams through their kids. So imagine now again if I was 5'11", 5'10", 5'9". I felt like if I was 6'6", 6'4" or just a couple more inches, I would have been in the league.

Speaker 1 16:20

Well, I don't want my kid to come out 5'9", 5'10", 5'11". I'm going to sit back and genetically modify his genes to where he could be 6'4", 6'6". You know it's crazy Like it's been out for a while that you can sit back Again. It's not affordable yet, but you could. You've been been able to, uh, go in there and modify what sex you want your kid to come out with. You know, that's been, that's been around for a minute too. It ain't. It's not affordable to the point where it's a societal norm yet, but it's getting there.

Speaker 1 16:55

So I just sit back and think, like when I look at the stuff that's already been pushed, I just imagine how far the average human would go with things like that because societal pressures. So for blacks, yeah, I want my kid to have nice hair or curly hair or more European style hair. You know that's crazy. You know it's just wild just thinking about where this might go or where it's probably. I ain't to say where it might go, where it's probably the more likely headed to with genetic engineering. I just I can see it. So, with a lot of y'all, I would like to know you know, hit me up, I would like to know a lot of y'all which is like your personal philosophy on this, because it's going to be crazy and I think about stuff like that all the time. That's the stuff I research. You know what I'm saying. I heard my kids or my girl like what you doing on the phone.

Speaker 1 17:45

I be researching stuff like this, just looking at it, because I get lost in it, because, you know, I just be thinking about the future, probably because I got raised by my grandparents. My great-unty just passed and I got to talk to my great-uncles. I, my auntie, my great auntie just passed and I got to talk to my great uncles that I used to get to see him all the time my granddad was living. They don't come down no more because he's not here and they you know. So I just listened to how the world was back when they was growing up in the thirties, forties and fifties and sixties and seventies, and I'm like man, you know much different. So I sit back like the Jetsons and I think what will the world be in 10 more years, 20 more years, 30 more years or better? Yet when I get my granddad age or my great auntie Liz age or you know any of my great uncles and aunties ages, like I'd be thinking like how will the world be? Because I know my granddad probably dreamed too when he was young, growing up. He was born in 1937. I bet he was dreaming then how it was. Yeah, it just came out. You know the depression when he, you know when he was, you know he was born in the great depression. So here you know his great, uh, grandmother or grandmother was a slave. So you get what I'm saying.

Speaker 1 19:01

So I just sit back and just contrast how technology advances. Things, you know, go all the way back to the cotton gin, like how that made that so more able to produce, for American to produce cotton based products, like just I just sit back and think like man, it's crazy, you know, when you go like and I just the genetic engineering is crazy, like you can, I'm pretty sure they're doing it with chicken already and I heard it. I ain't ever heard that it's been actually approved. But like that with chickens, you know chickens being born and become an adult chicken in two months, you know, because you can speed that process up. So I'm just wondering like man, where are we going to be at? It's great to think about, but to me it's also scary, like real scary to think like, where are we going to be at with these situations? Man, this is like, ah, you know, and like that's why I said to my listeners just man, just think about that. How do you feel about genetically engineering organisms? Would you or I go with this?

Speaker 1 20:24

Like autism, you know that get wiped out, that take that out. You know it's a sister, two sisters that's going viral right now, bree and Shay, and you know they like to have autism. I think they do have autism and that's a lot of people that have autistic family members and they love them and I don't think some probably will change it. They probably won't come out and say it but I think it's something that wouldn't change it, you know. But that'd be done Like you can go with the level right now, like on a lower level, how you see people do with dogs, with breeds of dogs, horses, you know, household animals, bullies, them dogs have a lot of health problems and all it was is keep breeding dogs with short arms, wide bodies, big heads, short limbs, rather, and you keep breeding them dogs over and over to the same looking dog and that's what you get and I see how that didn't caught fire because it looked cute, but them dogs really being bad health, hard breathing and things like that Can't really run and stuff like that. They bellies barely off the ground and people think it's cute. I was even. I even flipped that.

Speaker 1 21:43

I said what if it gets to a point where you got really wealthy people thinking that having a kid with dwarfism is cute and they started making that happen Like man? The rabbit hole for this is so far deep Once you get to thinking about it. That's why I'm challenging my listeners to really think about that. Go research it. Designer babies or GMOs or genetically modifications or you know genetically engineering. Just go look at it. It's crazy, man. It's really wild. Thinking about that Like just man, you might want your kid to be a swimmer, so you take out certain things that would keep them from swimming. You want their body to be more lean. What if you like a crazy weightlifter and you want your kids to be a weightlifter? Well, you start taking out certain genes or putting in certain genes you know, to make that happen.

Speaker 1 22:45

I always said this about men and like a lot of men ain't gonna come out and say it, they do it anonymously. But one of the big things about porn when it comes to men was you know the size of another man penis and you know the size of another man's penis, and you know you don't hear too many porn stars. If it's a male porn star, like I talked about before in the past episode, if it's a male porn star, he's known for how big his penis is. So a lot of men won't come out and say it. But if it was some type of way to modify their package safely or seem safely was just, you know, a minimum side effects, men's would be doing it too. Don't, let nobody get away with that one too. Like man, I say I talk about the bbl because it's more in your face and it's more things for women when it comes to things. But that was for me. Yeah, do it. So you even go to that craziness. Like I think it would be guys and men, you know, genetically modifying their kids to come out with a big butt, small waist. You know, if a woman really felt like that was acceptance, well, she don't want her kid to be like that. What do I have to go do with BBL? That's acceptance. You know it goes deep, man. It goes deep, man, it goes deep. It's wild how deep that can go. But yeah, just again, listeners, y'all tell me what would be your ethics about this. You know what I'm saying. Let me know what your ethics would be about this and give me some feedback. You know what I'm saying. That's how I look at it. So, yeah, I'm about to get out of here.

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Speaker 1 24:53

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