[bluedevil2k]

"I want to live in a world where people get drunk and instead of giving themselves tattoos, they’re like, ‘I’m drunk, I’m going to CRISPR myself."

Ok, scary thought already. But, casting aside all the safety concerns, how many attributes would someone in general want to change as an adult? You can't change your height, you can't change your hair color, you can't change your eyes. Is a myostatin-inhibitor going to be the "killer app" of DIY Crispr, so we can all look like a Belgian Blue cow?

[nomel]

How about genes involved in the production of dopamine, maybe to help chronic depression. Or neuron growth, wakefullness, testosterone production, etc.

As adults, we're still chemical machines. There are a million knobs to tweak.

[bluedevil2k]

Your examples lean towards the "managed by a trained physician", which would make sense. Treat depression, reverse neurodegenerative disorders, sure, a Dr can oversee that and treat that.

I was referring specifically to the DIY crowd, which this articles discusses. Things a Dr would say "no, I'm not going to help you with that". Or as the quote discusses, things a drunk person would say "I think this is a good idea".

[yayana]

Definitely these are not extreme joy riding, but I don't think an ethical doctor would help with highly above normal neuron growth, wakefulness, testosterone, or get involved with experiments starting from near normal levels in a patient. They might have some serious problems with a medical board.

It's a bizarre case that doctors will help normal people (journalists) experiment with some levels of sport doping, but it comes from knowing a little about the experimental professional sport dopers (where doctors try to stay anonymous.)

To give a different example, what about an anorexic that wants their genes to ensure their desired body image, i.e. 0 retention of normal fat? (Personally, I would be more concerned about bulk experiments in the beauty salons than the tattoo parlours.)

[sl1ck731]

If there was one to put my body on a 24 hour sleep/wake schedule I'd be in line.

[patorjk]

The article talks about some scientists doing DNA injections meant to stall aging. I could see that becoming popular if it turned out to work.

[phkahler]

I could see that being popular even if it didn't work.

[SCAQTony]

LOL - Amazing observational comedy on what people will try despite being proven utterly irresponsible and dangerous.

[beatgammit]

I don't know about your area, but here in Utah, essential oils and herbal remedies are very popular despite not having any scientific evidence whatsoever.

People buy whatever you tell them to buy, provided you give them an emotional reason to buy it. We just had someone try to sell to us in our home today, and when we told them the price was completely unreasonable, they tried to appeal to emotion (we need this sale to get a bonus, so we're willing to give you an awesome price...).

If you're a good enough salesman, you can sell air, as long as they think there's something different about your air.

[shehryarrr]

Pretty sure there's a Batman Beyond episode with basically this concept. People splicing themselves with animal traits.

[beatgammit]

So... Bioshock?