Hang on – that's rather putting the cart before the horse. I'm not arguing that genetic manipulation is wrong, but rather that out-of-hand discarding one of the key discussion points around it is a bit short-sighted.
For example:
It's not a sin for a wealthy family to drop tons of money on private schools, tutoring, and other expensive methods of getting their child ahead.
I'm pretty sure there are quite a few who would argue otherwise. Entrenched privilege and the resultant increase in inequality is quite a divisive issue already; a putative future in which this aspect of society is further extended such that children of the wealthy are unassailably genetically superior will be unacceptable to many.
My point is not that genetic manipulation is wrong – in fact, I'm pretty sure it's inevitable and essentially the next stage in human evolution. But it's an outstandingly complex concept that can't be waved away with what amount to fairly reductive comparisons.
I don't think the genetic manipulation in the near future is going to be powerful enough to create the situation you describe. If only because of the legal structure we've set up around it, but also because right now out capacities are far more limited, we know a few single genes that control for diseases or other invisible properties. The genetics of things like height, strength, and intelligence are many orders of magnitude more complex. We hardly understand how the brain even works. I realize we'll be making exponential strides, but we're still way early in that curve.
For example:
It's not a sin for a wealthy family to drop tons of money on private schools, tutoring, and other expensive methods of getting their child ahead.
I'm pretty sure there are quite a few who would argue otherwise. Entrenched privilege and the resultant increase in inequality is quite a divisive issue already; a putative future in which this aspect of society is further extended such that children of the wealthy are unassailably genetically superior will be unacceptable to many.
My point is not that genetic manipulation is wrong – in fact, I'm pretty sure it's inevitable and essentially the next stage in human evolution. But it's an outstandingly complex concept that can't be waved away with what amount to fairly reductive comparisons.