An American start-up is now offering embryo screening for IQ, plus “the other naughty traits everyone wants”, including sex, obesity, and propensity to mental illness. The company, Heliospect, is the latest in a wave of offerings that promise parents the power to engineer their own offspring: a prospect that raises a host of new philosophical, political, and interpersonal questions. Meanwhile, the origin of the story, in footage recorded as part of an undercover investigation by the Guardian and “antifascist” doxxing ring Hope Not Hate, points toward a new conservatism of the Left — albeit one that will likely prove as futile in the face of technological change as its Right-wing predecessor.
