Imagine a society, in the not too distant future, where sex is no longer the main method for reproduction. In the eyes of Stanford University law professor Hank Greely, director of the Stanford Center for Law Bioethics, that scenario will become a reality within this century.
At his “End of Sex” event Wednesday, Greely compared the future of conception to the society in the science fiction movie “GATTACA.” Greely, often referred to as the godfather of the field between human genetics and biological sciences, foresees that the majority of births in developed countries will feature in-vitro fertilization and whole genome sequencing within the next 20 to 40 years.1
“[The new method] is not going to be just more affordable or accessible, but it’s going to be something new,” Greely said. “[We are] introducing new frontiers through an old process.”