The last time I saw some talking heads debating the future of genetics – malicious and threatening or brilliant with promise?! – I allowed myself an imaginary shopping trip at the future Mall of Human Genes. First I returned a few, for in-store credit. Took back the asthma gene, the shortsighted gene, the dry skin gene and all the ones that gave my nose and… other things a regrettable shape. Then I splurged on a shopping cart full of beautiful new genetic code, everything from a perfect complexion to super-disease-resistant organs. And I rebelliously thought, ethics be damned, if it were really possible I’d do it in half a second! Of course, half a second a later, I wasn’t so sure.

Flag-waving supporters of genetic research and gene therapy envision a better world a few decades away where these miniscule units of heredity are diced and spliced with ease. At this point it seems not just possible but probable that we will treat, cure and even prevent hundreds of devastating diseases this way. Humans will in essence, evolve themselves at lightning speeds into much hardier creatures. Massive amounts of physical suffering will be eliminated.

But detractors of the whole idea predict a murkier outcome. They anticipate the so-called designer babies: embryos built to spec on everything from gender to IQ to spectacular sunshine-coloured hair. The lucky ones whose parents can afford to genetically modify them will hold unfair advantage over those who cannot. Just one more strike in the good old rich vs. poor game. “Bioethicists” can also imagine the unwanted side effects of everyone having a genome map in their medical record: people being dropped by insurers and employers quicker than you can spit, while prejudice and stigma take on a whole new dimension.

So what is the true future of medical genetics? Not even the most expert of experts really knows – yet. Everything hinges somewhat precariously on the keen foresight of ethical watchdogs and the laws they push through to keep up with this snowballing science. One thing is for sure: it will become an ever more complicated issue. For myself and my peers, the only genetics questions when we have our children are likely to be illness-related or boy versus girl at the most. Fast forward fifty years to when our grandchildren are creating families and it's a whole different ballgame. In addition to picking out cribs and deciding on nursery colors, they could be hemming and hawing over freckles or no freckles. Imagine a world where the phrase "she has her mother's eyes" gradually becomes archaic! Will that be worth the fact that she also doesn't have her mother's astigmatism?