Anyone familiar with ecology knows that species evolve according to a utility function imposed by their environment, one which compels their genome to achieve maximal or, at least satisfactory, fitness

When I think about the huge problems the world has, it seems reasonable to posit some connection between our ecological past ("evolutionary baggage") and a present in which our efforts at building desirable societies are consistently baffled to some degree and in many cases thwarted entirely

That is to say, we have ideas like "government shouldn't be corrupt" and "people shouldn't be racist" and "retribution is counterproductive" etc., which we value in modern utility functions for whole societies but innate, most likely evolved tendencies get in the way of the same

However, biotechnology has advanced considerably over the past few decades with the products of genetic engineering already in widespread use and the cost of technologies such as DNA sequencing dropping off exponentially

Why not just make sure zygotes who will develop into people with an innate propensity to be greedy, short-sighted or stupid are not carried to term

I accept that achieving a desirable society might be possible without genetic engineering of humans, BUT I don't see how it is preferable

I am still scratching my head looking for downsides in my approach