Just to be well and truly fuckin clear. I am not now nor have I ever been nor will I ever be contemplating shagging a family member.
Genes mutate.
If you have one copy of a mutated gene, it could be bad. However, one mutated gene is usually recessive or will be co-dominant with the other gene so it isn’t that bad. If you have two copies of that gene, it can be a lot worse.
Two close family members are more likely to have the same mutated gene, so the odds of getting that same mutated gene twice are a lot higher.
Deestan@lemmy.world 9 months ago
Human genes only really “work” when they are combined from very different sets.
So-called “recessive” genes are overruled by your partner’s different pile of genes. They are usually shit traits like soggy bones or hair growing backwards, but since they never dominate, they haven’t been naturally selected away. They’re just harmless baggage.
You can still get them because it’s all random, but the likelihood is generally low.
If you don’t have that difference in mating genes, more of these recessive genes get to have a say in building the human. This severely increases the likelihood of birth defects.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inbreeding
DharmaCurious@startrek.website 9 months ago
It’s 4 in the morning and I’m sick, got them albuterol inhaler shakes, and “soggy bones” made me laugh so hard I went into a coughing fit.
sangriaferret@sh.itjust.works 9 months ago
It was backwards hair that did it for me.
neuropean@kbin.social 9 months ago
For mars, they could do whole-genome sequencing and select for people with fewest deviations from the de facto wild-type human genome.
ilinamorato@lemmy.world 9 months ago
That sounds unsettlingly like eugenics.