"Should We Be Designing Babies?"

Spectrum Street Epistemology w/Warren Smith & Luana Maroja

In this Spectrum Street Epistemology, we are joined by Warren Smith and two esteemed professors from Williams College—one in Biology and the other in Philosophy.

We kicked off with the bold claim, "It's okay to design your own baby." The discussion quickly spiraled into whether this applies to genetic conditions (like preventing disorders) or if it extends to traits like IQ, hair color, and eye color. This led us down a rabbit hole about the ethics of In Vitro Fertilization (IVF), surrogacy, and the controversial idea of women selling their eggs or renting their wombs.

To wrap things up, we dove into a thought experiment that pushed us to think deeply about the morality around these claims. Now, we want to hear from you—what are your thoughts on these claims and the ethical dilemmas we explored?