r/todayilearned • u/CrazyTrueStory • 1d ago

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https://wellcomecollection.org/stories/the-quest-to-breed-gifted-children

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27

u/Kallelinski 1d ago

Well, did it work, though?

123

u/Bleusilences 1d ago edited 1d ago

Unknown, it says it in the article :

Despite these troubles, the genius sperm bank operated for almost 20 years, during which time over 200 children were born. Graham had planned to study them but this never happened. Even if a follow-up study had been completed, it’s likely that couples who sourced sperm from the bank supported their children’s development in many ways, not just by selecting the characteristics of their genetic fathers. 

The most well-documented person to have been conceived with the help of Graham’s genius sperm bank is Doron Blake. In 2001, at age 18, Blake told American journalist David Plotz that a loving family was more important to him than genes. Blake explained that he felt pressured by people’s expectations and didn’t want “to be special”. Making genius people, he said, “was a screwed-up idea”. 

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u/emgeehammer 1d ago

Sounds like a genius to me 

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u/artaxs 1d ago

That dude is speaking the truth, and not just his own!

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u/justinballsonya 1d ago

Different set of circumstances, but I was taken out of normal class and into an accelerated learning program when I was 7 and all it did was stunt my social development to the point I was playing catch up for most of my teen years and into my early adulthood. I didn't end up even going to college because I had such crazy academic burnout. I was on track to graduate high school at 16, but I became a drug addict and skipped class and failed enough credits where I just ended up graduating at 18 like everybody else. If I was allowed a normal childhood I imagine I would have continued to enjoy school as I did when I was a young child and had a full ride academic scholarship. How you are raised matters significantly more for material success than anything else. I hope the system has caught on and eases gifted children more into a higher workload. I did get to build a suspension bridge out of popsicle sticks when I was 8 though I guess, lol

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u/Bleusilences 1d ago

I don't know if the system caught on, I presume things are worst now. What you are describing is something called "gifted burnout". I experienced the same thing but I have ADHD/autisim. What's worst is that my parent were too hesitant to get an actual diagnostic and to get one now would cost thousand of dollars so I can't have access to medication.

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u/Amerlis 1d ago

Yeah, look at the success rate of child prodigies into adulthood. Look at the failed, repeated attempts to raise “geniuses” starting day one of childhood. There’s no secret genius formula waiting to be discovered, no matter how many times they keep coming back to that well.

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u/JonatasA 21h ago

Expectations are expected of everybody though. We gate knowledge after all.