http://www.wired.com/magazine/2009/10/ff_waronscience
Go get em, Paul! People seem to think that autism is the worst thing that can happen to their kid. The idea that Hib, measles, or polio are far worse for the kid, and ultimately leave you with a dead body (unlike autism), doesn't seem to register.
The most pressing need is to convince parents that if your kid has autism it's NOT the end of the world, and your kid can lead a happy life and even be productive, if an employer will take a chance. OTOH, when your kid is dead, I guarantee you you'd rather have a living autistic kid than a dead nonautistic one. Then again, some parents may prefer the dead kid, which is another problem we've got to work on, the better-dead-than-autistic crowd.
Look guys, your kid most likely won't grow up to be a billionaire and save you from the poor financial choices you made in your twenties, so ease up, ok? People think they can engineer a genius. I'm afraid that if we had a full genetic engineering repertoire at our disposal, and it was cheap enough so that the middle class could afford it, that people WOULD try to make a world of perfect people.
If everybody is a genius, who mows your lawn and carries away your trash? Mexicans? Do you think Mexicans LIKE being your slaves? Most of the middle class probably doesn't think of them as human. They are, and a slave revolt is inevitable. No slaveholding society has NOT been wracked by rebellion. Not everybody can be a billionaire, and whole races should not be condemned to permanent servitude so that whites can pursue the fantasy that every kid can be a superstar.
Obviously nature has a reason for autism, or else there would be none. Who made humans into gods? Who decided humans could play God? Why do we need to eliminate autism and homosexuality and all differences?
