Chapter 90: The Red Line of Human Embryo Gene Editing

After the emergence of CRISPR-Cas9 technology, both this country and the Lighthouse Nation, as representatives, have offered it strong official support.

In 2017, this country issued the Special Plan for Biotechnological Innovation, explicitly pointing to the development of "next-generation gene technology."

That is because this technology is not limited to plants; it can also be used in animals and the human body.

In fact, by now, genetically modified technology has already been applied quite widely; it is simply that people do not usually notice it.

In addition to the four major genetically modified crops of soybeans, corn, cotton, and rapeseed, there are also sugar beets, papayas, eggplants, potatoes, apples, and more.

By the end of 2016, the global area planted with genetically modified crops had risen from 1.7 million hectares in 1996 to 185.1 million hectares, a 110-fold increase.

Over the span of twenty-one years, the cumulative planted area reached 2.1 billion hectares.

It has also found extensive use in medicine.

A simple example is genetically modified vaccines, which are safer than traditional vaccines, cheaper to produce, and capable of large-scale manufacturing.

For example, in the fight against hepatitis B, traditional methods once fell into a dead end.

Only with the appearance of various genetically modified hepatitis B vaccines did prevention and treatment of the hepatitis B virus make encouraging progress and begin to play an increasingly important role.

Beyond genetically modified hepatitis B vaccines, the HPV vaccine for cervical cancer is also a product of genetic engineering.

And vaccines still under development, such as those for HIV, cancer, and universal influenza, all rely on this technology.

It is no exaggeration to say that genetic engineering is making us healthier and healthier.

...

The new generation of genetically modified technology, namely gene editing, has a vast market.

Even as a branch of precision medicine alone, its market value can reach the hundreds of billions of dollars.

A great many listed and private gene-editing companies have emerged, mostly overseas.

Their research applications are also concentrated in the two major fields of medicine and agriculture.

However, in the medical field, these companies all avoid the minefield of human embryo gene editing, restricting gene editing to various diseases within the human body.

This is also the current bottom line of the gene-editing industry: it must not be used on human embryos, and any editing of the germ line is irresponsible.

It involves ethical and social issues of altering the species itself.

One can imagine that once germline gene editing is irresponsibly unleashed, in a few years hospitals might launch projects for "customized perfect babies"?

Might they offer five-million-dollar projects to turn your child into Wolverine?

Or even create entirely new races directly through germline gene editing?

Moreover, there is no clear boundary between gene therapy and prevention on the one hand, and genetic enhancement on the other.

Once the threshold of gene editing is crossed, it will inevitably be used to improve individual abilities, such as focus, intelligence, and so on.

It would give people the chance to reshape their abilities in every respect and evolve into "new humans."

That would create enormous social problems, which is why this bottom line exists.

...

In Lu Yu's view, the current state of gene-editing technology is still worlds apart from true gene editing.

But such a red line is also absolutely necessary. At the very least, before Blue Star humans possess interstellar capabilities, it should not be studied.

Any slightest technological breakthrough could further tear human society apart.

Because whenever a new technology first appears, the cost is bound to be extremely high.

That means only the wealthy can enjoy these advances and move toward becoming "new humans."

Social contradictions and class conflicts would inevitably intensify.

Lu Yu had no intention of researching true gene editing for now. Beyond the reasons above, there were also technical and equipment limitations, and even the basic science materials contained only a tiny fraction of the necessary techniques.

...

Returning to Lu Yu's upcoming research on genetically modified plants:

On Blue Star, because this is not true gene editing but merely damaging the genes themselves, it is impossible to directly edit plants so that they acquire traits such as drought resistance.

As mentioned earlier, importing the genomes of other species into plant genes can give plants new characteristics.

But this technology cannot be precisely controlled; there is no way to accurately insert the required gene fragments into the corresponding plant genes.

Even with enormous expenditure of manpower and resources, the chance of success is extremely slim.

So although there were once research institutions that wanted to develop the drought-resistant plants Lu Yu had in mind, they all gave up because the prospect of success was almost invisible.

So could Lu Yu now accurately insert gene fragments?

To be honest, Lu Yu himself did not know.

He did have some ideas and notions, but before they were tested in practice, he did not dare say with certainty whether it could be done.

...

That day, as usual, Lu Yu was reading in the library when he received a call from Liu Shichang, who said that Xu Chengliang and Yan Jun had selected the security personnel.

Lu Yu put down the book in his hand, left the library, and drove to the company.

When he reached the Outer Nebula, he went straight to the lounge to find Xu Chengliang and Yan Jun, and they went into the office together.

After taking their seats, Xu Chengliang handed over a file folder containing all the people they had selected over the past few days.

Lu Yu flipped through it page by page.

Not counting Xu Chengliang and Yan Jun, there were a total of thirty-six people.

All of them had retired within the past two or three years, and none had any bad records or misconduct.

In Xu Chengliang's judgment, their abilities were only barely qualified.

But after all, he was from a special unit, so his standards were different.

Compared with ordinary people, these individuals' physical condition could already be considered excellent.

...

According to Xu Chengliang's plan, each team would have four people. There would be four teams by Lu Yu's side, three teams on Lu Yu's parents' side, and two teams on rotation or stationed at the company.

Lu Yu looked through it roughly and felt there was no problem, then asked about equipment and such.

Xu Chengliang said that he and Yan Jun had already prepared a list and given it to Liu Shichang to help with procurement.

Things like anti-surveillance and anti-interference devices—Lu Yu heard the technical terms, but still had no idea exactly what they did. He only knew that in the civilian field, they were all top-end goods.

Lu Yu thought about it and realized they still had not been provided with vehicles, which would make the security work inconvenient at times, so he asked if they had any preference.

Xu Chengliang and Yan Jun shook their heads and said that any larger vehicle would do.

Lu Yu nodded. If it needed to be bigger, then it would have to be an off-road vehicle, which also suited their personalities.

He picked up his phone and called Chen Xiaofei, asking him to hurry and arrange a few Land Rovers, not in his personal name but under the company.

The reason for choosing such cars was that they looked sturdy and tough, and they had enough space to carry a lot of equipment.

Chen Xiaofei said he would get in touch right away and even told Lu Yu to send over the company information and other details.

Lu Yu said that he would have Liu Shichang add him on WeChat later, and that anything needed could be discussed directly with Old Liu.

After hanging up, he exchanged a few more words with Xu Chengliang and Yan Jun before telling them to go back, rest, and prepare, and to join the company in two days along with the others.

...

While checking emails in the office, he saw that things were fine on Deng Qiang's end, but Yunhan Technology had run into two more technical problems.

Lu Yu shut down his computer, went upstairs to Yunhan Technology, and found Ge Yuncong, asking him to bring the two troubled teams into the conference room in turns.

After explaining everything to the two teams, he listened to Ge Yuncong's detailed report on the progress of the work.

The entire effects software suite was about eighty-five percent complete. Only the modules and plug-ins still needed to be written for a while longer, after which it would only need testing before its official release.

The pace of work at Yunhan Technology was neither fast nor slow, about what Lu Yu had expected.

He told Ge Yuncong that once the full suite of software was officially released, all employees would be given several days off, and bonuses would be issued without fail.

Although the suite they developed was open-source software and would not bring any direct revenue to the company, this had been Lu Yu's personal decision, and the employees' efforts should not be unpaid.

When Ge Yuncong heard there would be holiday time and bonuses, he was quite pleased, believing that once the news spread, all the programmers would be eager to finish the work as soon as possible.

Hard work, coupled with extra rewards, would leave no one unwilling to give their all.

...

After taking care of these matters, Lu Yu left the company and drove home alone.

When he encountered a red light on the road, he was considering going to the library again tomorrow to read.

But then he remembered Xu Chengliang's advice: in the future, he should try not to go alone to crowded public places.

If he wanted to read, he could buy the books and read them at home instead.

Though he felt it was a bit of an overreaction, Lu Yu ultimately decided to listen.

After all, better safe than sorry.

Once he got home, he turned on the computer and bought a great many books on an e-commerce platform.

There were books from every field. As long as Lu Yu thought they might be useful and had not read them before, he would buy them.

The delivery address was the home near Shuyin University.

From now on, Lu Yu planned to live there most of the time. This place had a smaller house and was in a residential compound, making it inconvenient for Xu Chengliang and the others to carry out their work.

The house near Shuyin University was livelier in its surroundings, but the area itself was relatively open, and many surveillance cameras had been installed during the original renovation.

...

Apart from meals, he spent the whole night buying books online.

By the end, Lu Yu had already lost track of how many he had bought. In any case, there were books of every kind, from introductory to professional to advanced.

With so many subjects involved, Lu Yu seriously suspected that he might one day be able to open a small bookstore specializing in secondhand books.

Over the next few days, he would probably not need to go anywhere or do anything else, only stay at the other house and wait for deliveries.

Still, he needed to buy several rows of bookshelves to place in the empty space beside the living room.

Otherwise, the books would end up piled casually on the floor.

Lu Yu kept placing orders until midnight, his hands even feeling sore before he finally stopped.

With so many books, he would have enough to read for a very long time.

It was impossible to buy every book all at once. If he needed more later, he could always buy them then.

He shut down the computer, stood up, and stretched his neck and shoulders, which cracked with popping sounds.

He walked to the window, opened it, smoked a cigarette, and went upstairs to wash up.

After his shower, with no real sleepiness, Lu Yu began packing some clothes.

There were not many clothes at the other house, so he needed to take some over.

As he packed clothing into his suitcase, he realized he did not seem to have many autumn and winter clothes.

Most of them had been bought before, when he went shopping with Shi Zixuan and Qin Xiaomian.

It seemed he would need to go buy some more sometime.

After packing the clothes, he lay down on the bed and browsed various news stories on his phone.

As the year 7102 drew to a close, the internet was also filled with many year-end roundups.

Watching these reports, and recalling the year he had lived through, Lu Yu gradually grew sleepy.