dahermit

Ho boy; this is going to open a can of worms.

We seem to be in deep shit when it comes to our problems on this planet. Our political, and environmental problems could result in the extinction of human life on this planet...not to mention that asteroid that is going to rendezvous with us in less than 20 years(near miss followed in a few years with a possible collision.

The average I.Q. score of a human is 100. If you have ever talked to a person with a 100 IQ you will notice that they are fairly dull (They do however, vote...and sometimes even get elected president). You would probably agree that persons with an "average" IQ is not likely to solve our countries problems.

The average IQ for a human is not likely increasing. It may have increased over the millenniums because of survival of the fittest. As of late, there have been no carnivores to improve the gene pool. Everybody survives regardless of intellect. All the significant science advancements and emerging technologies has been invented by persons with far above the average IQ.

We have the technology, and have had the technology for hundreds of years (selective breeding is not new), to produce human beings with superior intelligence. It seems we could use more Einsteins, Steven Hawkings, and maybe even a Marylin VosSavant (if she wishes to participate more than just producing a newspaper column).

There already are women who go to a sperm bank to be fertilized by the sperm of genius level donors for the purpose of having exceptionally intelligent off spring.

Why not encourage more women to do so and facilitate the process so that the average intelligence of the human race be elevated to help alleviate the problems we are encountering.

Note that this is not Hitler's "supermen" theory...he did not want supermen he wanted super soldiers. He had no altruistic motives.

I welcome your comments and/or predictions of doom.

Slartibartfas

There never will be "altruistic" eugenics.
And it is in fact about Übermenschen. Also Hitler did not only want strong soldiers but also a super intelligent master race. He was very well aware that for being a master race also a superior intelligence is a central component.


I disagree with your theory that evolution of men has stopped. Thats not the case. The rules simply changed. Among the poors of today only the best make it up to the top. And those on the top have as we all know a very lively tendency to sleep with many women (). They often have many children from various inofficial relationships. Moreover is being socially and economically succesful a major factor that makes men attractive. Not for no reason.

Granted pregnancy prevention brough a bit of a disorder into the system, but its just a question of time until a new balance is found. Keep in mind, not the strongest or the most intelligent survives. Its the best adopted and still most flexible who survive. Thats also valid forus humans.


You know why I oppose eugenics? Because humans have not the slightest idea of what is really important for being well adopted and flexible. They really dont have. Being focused on some perhaps only mediocre useful factors, while not even knowing about the rest, will lead you to different humans, but not necssarely more succesful ones. Already Hitler had laughable ideas of what would make up a superior human race (even though some of his ideas indeed would have lead to übermensch abilities on certain fields), we would today make slightly different choices but future generations would think of our by then failures not much better than we today think about the Übermenschen.

Another point. View it from a humanistic point. As soon as you introduce the rule of the genes, you open the box of pandora. Ever seen the movie GATTACA? If not do it before you continue talking about this here, as thats the future then. The old south American Apardheid system was a joke about what would be ahead of us. It would resemble more the Indian cast system, but based on genetics, which would however lead to pretty much the same outcome. Your faith is determined by your birth.

Do you believe men should be treated equally? That they shall have the same rights? If you do, you have to oppose the rule of genes at all costs.

I just say three words at the end of my post:
BRAVE NEW WORLD

__________________
"Every country gets the cuisine it deserves"

Common insult examples and how to avoid them

FRYandBENDER

Ok, Ok, this talk about genetics is all good, but WTF is up with this asteroid? In less than 20 years? Should I start drinking heavily and sleeping with as many women as I can?

__________________
Neither am I the means to any end others may wish to accomplish. I am not a tool for their use. I am not a servant of their needs. I am not a bandage for their wounds. I am not a sacrifice on their altars. ... I owe nothing to my brothers, nor do I gather debts from them. I ask no one to live for me, nor do I live for others. I covet no mans soul, nor is my soul theirs to covet.

Ayn Rand, Anthem.

Common insult examples and how to avoid them

Izzibeth

Yes. Why aren't you doing that anyway?

^_^ I have heard that we will be hit by an asteroid sometime around 2012. Not positive. But we have near-hits all the time. It really is just a matter of time. Half of the near-hits we have we don't even find out about until they have already passed. I really wouldn't worry too much about it. When it happens, we won't know until half our planet is missing most likely.

In terms of selective breeding, I agree with Slarti. We have changed the rules here with everything that we have done and we don't know enough about nature and the 'rules of the universe' or enough answers to those 'why?' questions to understand what will be successful in the long run.

The only kind of determination I will make when/if I get pregnant... is to make sure it's a boy. I'm not raising any girls. No way in hell.

__________________

Slartibartfas

I agree with Izibeth. Why waiting for an asteroid to do so? Just care for your own safety you know. You might get more from some amoureuse tails than you'd like to get from them

__________________
"Every country gets the cuisine it deserves"

Common insult examples and how to avoid them

Slartibartfas

If the majority in a country thinks like you do, you get what they have in India now.

In fact the first thing that will be forbidden by the authorities will be the possibility to choice the sex of baby. It would leed to a catastrophic disbalance in society and raise the extreme danger of the complete downfall of order.

There is a reason why there are somewhat 50-50 shares of men and women in this world.

__________________
"Every country gets the cuisine it deserves"

Common insult examples and how to avoid them

FRYandBENDER

Well, there is a difference between being functionally drunk and the world is going to end shit faced.

__________________
Neither am I the means to any end others may wish to accomplish. I am not a tool for their use. I am not a servant of their needs. I am not a bandage for their wounds. I am not a sacrifice on their altars. ... I owe nothing to my brothers, nor do I gather debts from them. I ask no one to live for me, nor do I live for others. I covet no mans soul, nor is my soul theirs to covet.

Ayn Rand, Anthem.

Common insult examples and how to avoid them

Slartibartfas

Eloquently worked out difference, indeed

__________________
"Every country gets the cuisine it deserves"

Common insult examples and how to avoid them

dahermit

I was not thinking those terms, I am more interested in just intlligence...I do not care if Einstein was well rounded or socially successful, it appeared that he was not. What he was, was an unusually intelligent physicist that presented meaningful theories that were the basis for understanding our universe.

dahermit

There is an asteroid that is calculated to be a near miss in about 2017 or so. It will be so near earth that it will pass between our existing geosynchronous communication satellites. The question then becomes:"Will the effect of earth's gravity change its orbit enough that on it's next orbital cycle (about 12 years later), it will strike the earth. So yes, after kissing one's ass goodbye, one should console themselves with drinking and doing as much horizontal mambo as possible.