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[Eagle_eye]

I don't think the consent thing is good. Parents have no more right to harm their child than any other person.

[Bauglir]

I don't think the consent thing is good. Parents have no more right to harm their child than any other person.

No, but they do have more of a right to make decisions about what is likely to be harm for their child or not. This is called "parenting".

[Eagle_eye]

Yes, well, I can safely say that if a parent thinks their child would be better off dyslexic or deaf or blind than not, they're wrong.

[Muz]

Something like a matchmaker who picks out the genetically most suitable mate for you would be cool. But downside here is that some people will fall into the "you're the most genetically suitable with me - we're soulmates" trap, and ignore personality compatibility. On the other hand, most people will fail at finding mates that are compatible personality wise anway.

Even when you consider removing genetic defects, it's not always clear that what you're doing might not be harmful to our intellectual diversity in the long run. You mention 'curing' autism-spectrum disorders, for instance. Ironic because Alan Turing might have had aspergersautism. There's also John Nash, a Nobel-laurate mathematician who was schizophrenic. And scores of bipolar success stories, which may be linked genetically to schizophrenia. Not saying they can't be debilitating illnesses, but it's a pretty big change to consider when the same thing might have held back computer science for who knows how long.

Also, there's so many brilliant people with dyslexia that some people even consider it an advantage. Two of my family members were dyslexic and they went to Harvard.

Michael Kearney, who had a master's degree in biotechnology at 14 (writing a 118 page thesis), had ADHD. One of the smartest people I know has ADHD; he uses it to give him endless energy.. he's know a philosopher from Berkeley.

A lot of these things are hardly handicaps. Once people hit their limits, they'll realize they have limits and start to find a way to improve themselves and work around it. If I wanted an army of superhumans, I'd do it by teaching people to unlock their potential, rather than trying to create people who were born perfect, have life easier than everyone else, and ended up being too lazy to push their potential.

Also, if you look at the world today, there is a race of people who are bigger, stronger, faster, and jump higher than all the other races. Yet, as a group and society, they're behind the rest of the world.

[Loud Whispers]

Of course, we would have to understand this subject nearly inside-out if we were going to start doing stuff like this.

Controlled breeding in human populations would yield any useful data? How?

[Owlbread]

Also, there's so many brilliant people with dyslexia that some people even consider it an advantage. Two of my family members were dyslexic and they went to Harvard.

Michael Kearney, who had a master's degree in biotechnology at 14 (writing a 118 page thesis), had ADHD. One of the smartest people I know has ADHD; he uses it to give him endless energy.. he's know a philosopher from Berkeley.

A lot of these things are hardly handicaps. Once people hit their limits, they'll realize they have limits and start to find a way to improve themselves and work around it. If I wanted an army of superhumans, I'd do it by teaching people to unlock their potential, rather than trying to create people who were born perfect, have life easier than everyone else, and ended up being too lazy to push their potential.

Also, if you look at the world today, there is a race of people who are bigger, stronger, faster, and jump higher than all the other races. Yet, as a group and society, they're behind the rest of the world.

I would like you to explain how dyslexia helped your family members to get into Harvard, or how dyslexia can be an advantage to some. Again, when it comes to the ADHD, hopefully science would allow us to have as much energy as someone with ADHD without suffering the negative effects. If superhumans become lazy, then it's up to their governments to change that through encouragement and so on.

[Helgoland]

up to their governments to change that

You're travelling a dangerous road there, Owlbread - if they need to be looked after, that's something the government can hardly provide. If they need (large amounts of) encouragement to not be worse than Joey Non-Mutant, they're hardly an improvement.

[Owlbread]

up to their governments to change that

You're travelling a dangerous road there, Owlbread - if they need to be looked after, that's something the government can hardly provide. If they need (large amounts of) encouragement to not be worse than Joey Non-Mutant, they're hardly an improvement.

But we never said that they would all be lazy and worse than Joey Non-Mutant, we were just discussing what we could do with those who may become lazy like that. I don't think you or I can really predict how many would be like that, so there may or may not be a good proportion of people who use their powers well.

[Helgoland]

Of course, we would have to understand this subject nearly inside-out if we were going to start doing stuff like this.

Controlled breeding in human populations would yield any useful data? How?

It wouldn't; he meant that we need to wait until we have that data to actually start fiddling with our genes, I think.

Owlbread: That's exactly what I meant - normal intelligent people don't necessarily become slobs today either. It just sounded a bit like you didn't mind them being genetically lazy at all; but non-laziness is an essential part of being successful.

[DJ]

“There are only four types of officer. First, there are the lazy, stupid ones. Leave them alone, they do no harm…Second, there are the hard- working, intelligent ones. They make excellent staff officers, ensuring that every detail is properly considered. Third, there are the hard- working, stupid ones. These people are a menace and must be fired at once. They create irrelevant work for everybody. Finally, there are the intelligent, lazy ones. They are suited for the highest office.” - von Moltke

[Sergius]

“There are only four types of officer. First, there are the lazy, stupid ones. Leave them alone, they do no harm…Second, there are the hard- working, intelligent ones. They make excellent staff officers, ensuring that every detail is properly considered. Third, there are the hard- working, stupid ones. These people are a menace and must be fired at once. They create irrelevant work for everybody. Finally, there are the intelligent, lazy ones. They are suited for the highest office.” - von Moltke

Yay!

[GlyphGryph]

Something like a matchmaker who picks out the genetically most suitable mate for you would be cool. But downside here is that some people will fall into the "you're the most genetically suitable with me - we're soulmates" trap, and ignore personality compatibility. On the other hand, most people will fail at finding mates that are compatible personality wise anway.

You know, there's nothing that says the genetic information for your children has to come from you and the person you're most suited to raise them with.

[MonkeyHead]

Something like a matchmaker who picks out the genetically most suitable mate for you would be cool. But downside here is that some people will fall into the "you're the most genetically suitable with me - we're soulmates" trap, and ignore personality compatibility. On the other hand, most people will fail at finding mates that are compatible personality wise anway.

You know, there's nothing that says the genetic information for your children has to come from you and the person you're most suited to raise them with.

My offspring would seem to support this assertion.

[DJ]

I sure as hell wouldn't waste my resources on propagating somebody else's genes.

[Bauglir]

I sure as hell wouldn't waste my resources on propagating somebody else's genes.

But... you already propagate somebody else's genes, by necessity, by having a child (this just propagates your own genes as well). And step-children are fairly common, as are foster children. And you've got adoption being a thing, too. I'm not sure what the problem is, here, unless you think gene propagation is the only thing people factor into their decision-making here. You could argue that every other reason somebody could give derives from the instinct to pass on one's genes, but since they can be satisfied without doing that they're clearly distinct reasons.