Genetic editing in humans

[Bengalzona]

I think I remember hearing that our genes go through changes throughout our lives. Generally, the genetic material degrades as we get older (something about the livelong bombardment with free radicals that knock genetic material out of place or something like that as I recall). This is why our hair changes to silver, white or grey when we get older. It is also why the longer a couple waits to have children, the less of their original genetic material they pass on and the greater the chance of complications. And there are things that we do or expose ourselves to in the environment that changes our genes. Smoking, for example. Smoking increases the free radicals in a body and thus reduce the original genetic material at a faster rate. That increase in free radicals is also why smokers are more prone to getting cancer, I believe I heard.

I'm sure genetic editing will initially center upon replacing genes that free radicals have modified over time, thus prolonging life and possibly youth in the future. And what sort of world will that be? Science fiction writers have imagined it often. Overpopulation is probably a concern due to increasing scarcity of resources. And the inevitable afterbirth of that concern is fear and fear mongering, etc. We can't even deal with problems like reasonable distribution of resources and countering fear mongering now. Heck, we can't even deal with saving the world from global warming problems because some folks are afraid they might lose a buck or two. What would make us think we can deal with those issues in the future?