The 20th century's darkest dream—controlling human heredity—has returned. This time, it isn't being forced by dictators; it's being sold by brands. In Designing Humanity, Marcus Feldman reveals how the "Gospel of Growth" has migrated from the stock market to our very DNA. From the venture-backed labs of Silicon Valley to the unregulated clinics of a global genetic arms race, we are quietly reintroducing eugenics under the guise of "wellness," "prevention," and "parental choice." We are no longer merely correcting diseases; we are marketizing birth itself, creating a new biological class system where wealth determines the genetic destiny of the next generation.
Moving with the analytical, Feldman takes us inside glass-walled clinics where predictive algorithms turn embryos into data points. The book explores the "Ethical Mirage" of free choice, arguing that when society pressures parents to choose only the "best" traits, the market creates a "tyranny of love" more pervasive than any coercive regime. By examining the impact of AI on genetic surveillance and the fading of human diversity—such as the 67% to 90% reduction in Down syndrome births across various Western nations—this investigation exposes how we are erasing variation in the name of progress.
Designing Humanity is not just a book about biotechnology; it is a profound inquiry into what it means to be human in an age of total prediction. Feldman challenges us to confront "The Mirror Question": When we gain the power to write our own code, what happens to the accidental, the diverse, and the very soul of humanity? This is a vivid, morally unsettling, and essential roadmap for a future that is closer than we admit. It is a call to recognize that in an era of mandatory optimization, our imperfections may be our last remaining act of rebellion.
