Will we be able to genetically modify mankind into a super-race?

Question

Not in the Hitlerian sense, but in the congenital birth-defect and disease-free sense.

Answer 1

Probably never free of those things you mention. We may eventually develop gene therapy to the point that none or almost none of those things will affect those that have available health care, but it is not at all feasible, nor sensible to try and genetically modify all of mankind for this purpose, especially given that such a radical solution is unneccessary to achieve it.

Answer 2

no because as soon as one "defect" is sorted another one appears and many have benefits not for the individual sufferer but for the population as a whole see sickle cell and cystic fibrosis

not to mention that many diseases are infection (bacterial and viral) related which can never be prevented

the super-race idea is a myth.... based on the assumption that to be different or ill is wrong
we are all the products of our genes and environments an interaction too complicated to completely understand and therefore too complicated to "correct"

Answer 3

no.

Evolution is genetic response to the environment. We survive because we adapt. If we create a uniform genetic race it will soon be destroyed by a simple virus which continues to adapt beyond the hairless ape super race's ability to control it.

Answer 4

Maybe.

While we can strain diseases out of the existing stock of humankind, that won't help those diseases that begin as spontaneous mutations and are passed on to children, unless we were scanning every sperm, egg and fetus.

Answer 5

possibly