Personal Genomics Firm 23andMe Patents Designer Baby System 171
An anonymous reader writes "Consumer genomics company 23andMe has developed a system for helping prospective parents choose the traits of their offspring, from disease risk to hair color. The patent — number 8543339, "Gamete donor selection based on genetic calculations" — describes a technology that would take a customer's preferences for a child's traits, compute the likely genomic outcomes of combinations between a customer's sperm or egg and other people's sex cells, and describe which potential reproductive matches would most likely produce the desired baby."
Re:Prior art (Score:4, Interesting)
Ah, but the question is do these guys actually have a specific implementation?
Or is this a business process patent disguised as a specific implementation?
I don't know enough about the state of genetics to know if they can do this or not. But so many patents are just bafflegab intended to make it look like you've solved a problem -- when in fact you've just enumerated some of the things you'd need and don't have a way of doing it.
The devil is in the details, and I'm skeptical they have anything more than a series of whitepapers detailing how you'd go about it.
Re:Dating service to come? (Score:5, Interesting)
By one measure of intelligence. I've done pretty well in most standardized and IQ tests, and yet, in many instances, my intelligence is more analytical than anything else. When it comes to other areas, I know I am sorely lacking.
In contrast, I know people (e.g. musicians) who intuitively process music theory (or even math), people whose reflexes in sports are miles ahead of my own (to predict where a ball may be and how quickly you can intercept it is also a form of intelligence), and people who can read emotions extremely well and manipulate them.
So, yeah, while people who belong to Mensa may be smart in some areas, I would question the blanket statement that they are "smarter than you" (i.e. the general populace).
Re:Dating service to come? (Score:4, Interesting)
At the end of the day, it's essentially a social club like the Rotary Club or the Knights of Columbus. It's just a self-selected group based on a specific set of criteria.
To the best of my knowledge, Mensa hasn't collectively gotten together to 'do' anything like solving specific problems.
More like get together for cocktails, and discuss the semantic differences between a canape and an hors d'ouevre, and other such fascinating trivia.
If they were children, there would be a club house and a sign saying "no X allowed". Other than that, I'm sure people will tell you how awesome it is and all the good they do -- and those people will likely be members.