Ives Parr is an independent scholar known for his work on the science and ethics of genetic enhancement. For the first episode of the Mental Disorder podcast, I invited him on to talk about how polygenic screening and embryo selection could be used to prevent or reduce the risk of mental illness. Ives and I discuss whether there are tradeoffs between mental wellbeing and other traits, potential arms races in selection for mental and physical abilities, and whether a mentally healthier society would be more religious and politically conservative given the existing correlations between these traits and mental health. In the second half we focus on ethical issues, like which kinds of psychological diversity we should value, whether parents with mental health issues or physical disabilities should be permitted to intentionally create children with those same problems, and how Effective Altruists ought to think about mental healthcare spending.You can listen on Apple Podcasts by clicking here, or on YouTube by clicking here. Spotify and other podcast players will be available soon, and I plan on recording video for podcasts in the near future. Links:* Parrhesia (Ives’ Substack)* Ives Parr, “Heartwarming Video of First PGT-P Baby With Parents”* Ives Parr, “The Controversial Future of Genetic Testing | VICE News.”* Mia Georgiou, “Meet Lulu and Nana, the World’s First CRISPR Genome-Edited Babies.”* Caspi et al., “The p Factor: One General Psychopathology Factor in the Structure of Psychiatric Disorders?”* Jonathan Anomaly, “Creating Future People: The Ethics of Genetic Enhancement.”* Emil Kirkegaard, “Homosexuality is a Mental Illness.”* Anomaly et al., “Great Minds Think Different: Preserving Cognitive Diversity in an Age of Gene Editing.”* David Teather, “Lesbian Couple Have Deaf Baby by Choice.”* Julian Savelescu, “Procreative Beneficence: Why we should Select the Best Children.”* Michael Plant, “Don’t Just Give Well, Give WELLBYs: HLI’s 2022 Charity Recommendation.” Get full access to Mental Disorder at www.mentaldisorder.ca/subscribe

Most mental health podcasts are pretty boring, emotion-oriented, and non-controversial. So I’m starting the Mental Disorder podcast to try and do something different. Mental health is a serious problem, and to think about it coherently requires us to engage with science, politics, and philosophy. Every two weeks, I’ll be releasing a conversation with an expert, journalist, or practitioner working in mental health who is thinking about the problem in an interdisciplinary manner. Listen to the podcast above to find out more. If you’re not already subscribed, head to www.mentaldisorder.ca/subscribe to get notified of new podcasts and articles from me. If you have questions, comments, or suggestions, email me at [email protected] or message me on Twitter @jonahdavids1. Get full access to Mental Disorder at www.mentaldisorder.ca/subscribe