It's with great appreciation I read this post, as you have extensively researched and considered the matter, providing sources.

Something you may not have considered is that today for <$300 you can buy a CRISPR kit to edit the human genome yourself on your kitchen table, in your shed, or the back seat of a fucking car, for that matter. CRISPR is in the wild, and tens of thousands of people are practicing genetic engineers today, not including any that are involved in educational, governmental, or corporate institutions.

Leaving this power in the hands of institutions will bite us hard in the ass, since we become nothing but chattel, and existentially vulnerable to the whims of our posterity's creators - not parents, but psychopathic overlords. Not particularly brave. However, just like 3D printers, CRISPR is tabletop open source individually owned means of production, and I reckon that genie isn't getting back in the lamp.

Take the bull by the horns or get gored. That's about the only choice we have with every technological advance, and none more existentially than our germline. Frankly, I have complete confidence that more than a few CRISPR babies preceded He's limelight grabbing, but without the fanfare for reasons - obviously damn good reasons. I've seen folks inject themselves with stuff they engineered themselves via CRISPR. It's happening, and sticks in mud become traction for folks traversing mud.

Will bad shit happen? As surely as the sun rises daily. Will corporations seek to profit? Just as surely as popes wear pointy hats. Will anything prevent technology from advancing? Only our extinction. Nobody has a choice regarding what technology is possible. The universe is what it is, and rational people make the best choices they can regarding what to do given the understanding they attain.

Nothing has ever had the potential CRISPR has to empower individuals and humanity to prosper in joy. It's not evil anymore than any other feature of physical reality. What we do can either be good or evil, and we will face such choices regarding CRISPR, just as we do with pointy sticks. We see that the UK literally seizes pointy sticks from civilians today, because it's possible to do bad things with them.

Is that how we want to live? Utterly disempowered proactively by totalitarian despots?

I reckon not. Every single one of the human beings alive today has an opportunity to gain this incredible power to improve their lot. What we each do with that opportunity will be entirely our personal responsibility, and we will merit the consequences of our decisions. Whether that's becoming enslaved and the property of psychopaths who undertake every possibility to profit from us, or to become immune to those psychopaths that consider us chattel, is up to us.

Thanks!