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How humans are turning into a 'totally different species'

We're making so many advancements with genetic engineering that humans could eventually have superpowers.

Rob Nail, a robotics expert who is currently the CEO and associate founder of think-tank Singularity University, said we are making enough process with genetic engineering that we will see designer babies in our lifetime — babies that are genetically engineered to get rid of any genetic defects.

But he says genetic engineering may not stop there — it could get to the point where people give their kids superpowers, like increased lung capacity or extreme height.

"I think on a 20-year timeline, if you want to have a kid, and you want him to be 8 feet tall and have amazing lung capacities and other things, you might just have that possibility," Nail told Tech Insider.

Researchers from China published a paper last April showing how they edited the genome of a human embryo to block a gene that causes a rare blood disease. The researchers used technology called CRISPR-Cas9 that allows biologists to basically "search-and-replace" components of DNA.

But the technology is far from perfect — it successfully deletes target code 40% of the time and switches it out correctly about 20% of the time.

Still, the potential is there. And it raises the question that if we can delete genes that cause diseases, why not use it to tailor traits like intelligence or height in our children?

"It’s not always an easy conversation because it challenges our deepest, most fundamental beliefs about who we are and who we want our kids to be and what we think it means to be human," Nail said.

Neil deGrasse Tyson told Tech Insider he doesn't think designer babies are a good idea.

"If we start predetermining what your offspring will be, I think that will be a less interesting world," he said.

But Nail said it's important not to over regulate gene editing just because it scares us. Over regulating will just move the problem elsewhere — what's needed is an ethical debate on where to draw the line.

"In the US, we had some ethical issues around stem cell research around the Bush administration and did it slow it down? No," he said. "It just moved to China and Brazil and a few other places and it tracked nicely on the exponential curve — it just didn’t happen in the US."

Either way, with advancements in genetic engineering, what we see as human is bound to change, Nail said.

"I would go so far as to say that I think we are now actually transitioning into a totally different species — in fact, a variety of different species," he said.

NOW WATCH: Neil deGrasse Tyson and genetics guru Anne Wojcicki on a future without disease

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