Who’s Your Daddy? George Clooney? Brad Pitt? The World of Celebrity Genetics
Will the parents who were looking for a genetically beautiful baby ask about a return policy? Will they be so disappointed they got ugly instead of perfection that they’ll resent the kid and hide him from friends and family? After nine months telling everyone you’re giving birth to a Brett Favre /The Rock hybrid, if Clint Howard pops up in your cradle you’re due for some social awkwardness. Unconditional love is expected when the child has no physical expectations placed upon it, but when you specifically tailor your request for a future stud muffin, friends and family may wonder whether to offer congratulations or sympathy.
Of course, there’s a serious side to this:
Bioethicists are divided over the program. Sperm banks routinely allow clients to search based on ethnic background, hair color, eye color, and skin tone. They offer extensive details such as donors’ height, weight, and educational background.
“There are legitimate reasons for this, so the child fits in with the already existing children in the family or so the child looks more like the social father,” said Mark Rothstein, director of the Institute for Bioethics, Health Policy and Law at the University of Louisville School of Medicine in Kentucky. “Most people would consider that to be acceptable. … If you’re creating a little Keanu Reeves, then I have problems with that.”
The idea of creating babies with the intent of them being beautiful is yet another byproduct of a society where girls get breast implants at 14, where a 12 is considered plus-size, and where the media and fashion industry push ideas of perfection that are generally unattainable. Granted, the people who would use the look-alike service are few, but the service’s existence speaks volumes. Maybe a couple thinks their child will have a better chance at success in life if they look like a handsome actor — there’s no guarantee the genetic gamble will pay off, but the idea may appeal to many.
Prospective parents may like this feature because Cryobank does not offer photos of its donors, and the celebrity look-alike gimmick is one way to give them an idea of who their donor may be. But there will be a single woman in New York who wants to raise her very own Russell Crowe, or a couple in California giddy at the prospect of a little David Beckham. I feel empathy for the kids of those parents, seeking therapy trying to figure out why nothing they do is good enough for them. Perhaps they find out about what happened someday or discover angry letters the parents sent to Cryobank demanding a refund.
Then again, I feel worse for the kid whose parents requested the Quentin Tarantino look-alike and got what they wanted.
just the idea, that a guy had to exite himself on a porn pic to blow himself, and to pread his perm into a glass, doesn’t appear to me inspirating for having a child, ladies, better get a dog !
This is disturbing in too many ways for me to even start. This has to be fiction.
I wonder if the sex of the offspring is selected to be the same as that of the movie star. This seems like eugenics gone amok.
I think I’ve seen pictures of young ladies with strange looking fluids on their faces, which reminds me of this article.
Seems like I’ve finally found my niche in life, Ladies.
That is if you want your children to resemble Bert Lahr.
Bert Lahr
I’ve seen really unfortunate looking people have absolutely gorgeous children and visa versa.
This is a really bad idea. What happened to beauty is in the eye of the beholder?
Just creepy.
Just picture this:
a baby who looks like George Clooney, but with the mind of … Ahmadinejad. Or Kim North Korea.
Reminds me of Ira Levin’s The boys from Brazil.
Be afraid. Be very Afraid …
This reminds me of years ago when I was a reporter and had to cover the Nobel Prize Sperm Bank story (yes, there really was a donor’s pool of famous scientists in the early 1980s).
Turns out the first “couple” to give birth to one of the little future geniuses was discovered to have been charged with child abuse years earlier in Illinois.
They still made $10K off the photos, which is another story.
Home delivery, no extra charge.
The difference between a regular bank and a sperm bank is that with the latter, you lose interest after making a deposit.
No, I don’t have anyhting serious to say here, are you kidding?
A one bullet test. You have to shoot either Clooney or Voight. Who would you keep alive!
These days you can’t tell anymore what is real and what is Science Fiction. If you’re surprised by this article, think about what we’ll have in a not so far future:
It will be possible to have a cloned baby of your favorite actor once you know their DNA sequence (you could download it for a price, or pirated). People will have their DNA trademarked. You’ll be able to run a simulation of the DNA sequence of your 4 weeks old baby in gestation and know how he will look, expected IQ, illnesses, etc. so you can decide whether you want to have him or not. And someday, women will be able to have their fertilized eggs removed and implanted into a mechanical “surrogate mother” so that they don’t have to go through the hassle of pregnancy. All for a comfortable price, of course.
Yes, technology can be used for things good, but also for things bad, weird or plain disgusting.
Alicia is talented and my favorite female r&b artist.. her and drake did their thang with that “unthinkable” that’s my much loved song!