Do you think that from the progress of science there will come a time when man will control his own evolution with the manipulation of genes and removal of defects and disease from the gene pool? Also, what is you point of view with regards to the ethics of this and it's implications on societies structure?

Two questions.

A) Yes. The process is already underway.

B) Nothing wrong with improving the odds for our descendents. The societal implications are uncertain, as with all technological advances.

I answered a question with this similar response. I think perfection is a bad idea. Read the book Survival of the sickest by Sharon Moalem. It will change any ill- concieved notions that perfection is a good thing.

I think we are well on our way to "fixing" our genes. I don't personally am not comfortable with it. I have an unsettling feeling that we mess around with them some consequence that we never knew existed is going to show up.

Kind of like how the Everglades are in trouble now. One person lets lose one python, thinking it won't hurt anything. Then someone else does the same thing. Then another, and another and you have a cascading effect.

Until we actually understand how everything in our body works, I suspect working a gene here or there may be a hard way to find out that they work as a whole system. The talk of changing the building block for a body that we aren't quite sure how it really works seems a bit rash to me. Have you ever heard a clear explanation of why we have an appendix? Or why some medications work for some people and not others? Until they can prove to me that messing with one gene isn't going to effect another, I am not comfortable.