Preparing responsibly for these potential future dangers may well require we begin developing the underlying technologies today, while we still have time.Thinking about genetic choice in the context of imagined future scenarios is, in many ways, abstract.But potentially helping a child live a healthier, longer life is anything but.Every time a person dies, a lifetime of knowledge and relationships dissolves.We live on in the hearts of our loved ones, the books we write, and the plastic bags we’ve thrown away, but what would it mean if people lived a few extra healthy years because they were genetically selected or engineered to make that possible?How many more inventions could be invented, poems written, ideas shared, and life lessons passed on?What would we as individuals and as a society be willing to pay, what values might we be willing to compromise, to make that possible?What risks would we individually and collectively be willing to take on?Our answers to these questions will both propel us forward and present us with some monumental ethical challenges.