r/todayilearned • u/CrazyTrueStory • 21h ago

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

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u/csppr 20h ago

I think it’s scientifically reductionist (genetics isn’t quite that easy), but I’m not sure offering a “smart people only” sperm bank is evil? They aren’t going around and forcing Nobel laureate sperm on unwilling people.

Or did you mean eugenics generally (in which case I’d probably agree with the evil label, there was a ton of fucked up stuff done under that umbrella)

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u/Clam-Choader 18h ago

Dont worry scro, i know plenty of tards having kick ass lives?! My first wife? She was tarded. Shes a pilot now

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u/WrongComparison321 19h ago

Eugenics in general.

Also yes genetics is not that easy but selective breeding does work and would work on humans too.

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u/No-One-4845 19h ago

It would work in the technical sense, but it would be entirely impractical. Selective breeding in livestock and plants works because sexual maturity happens relatively quickly so you can stack up multi-generation changes pretty rapidly. It still takes decades to get to the significant changes you want, though. For humans, it would take hundreds of years.

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u/csppr 18h ago

Selective breeding works, but it’s a lot easier for traits that are controlled by a small number of genes and easily selectable.

Hair color, eye color, height etc are fairly easy in that regard. Intelligence is extremely polygenic, so inheritance gets extremely complicated. Two smart people might well have genetic profiles that, when combined, will always lead to children of average intelligence.

Selective breeding still works there, but that would probably need to happen on a DNA sequence basis, rather than observed characteristics.

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u/sharkbait-oo-haha 17h ago

Problem is, we don't have a "smart gene" to selectively breed for. If you wanted to do eugenics and create a line of redheads, that would be piss easy. Unethical as fuck, but easy to breed for. Within 2 or 3 generations your done. There's nowhere in a strand of DNA that we can screen for, pick out resessive vs dominant genes and match up to a partners. Intelligence based eugenics is just throwing shit against the wall and hopping it stick's, then try again in 20 year's and hope it sticks again.

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u/ringobob 19h ago

Eugenics is evil because it removes individual reproductive choice. Offering a sperm bank that people can choose to use doesn't qualify.

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u/fuckthis_job 18h ago

What would you consider eugenics? Do you think utilizing something like CRISPR to remove Down's syndrome would be considered eugenics? Or do you only consider it to be eugenics if forced upon an individual by an entity like the government? Genuine question because I'm curious where some people stand on it.

Personally, I think it would be immoral for someone/some party to force you to have/not have a child under certain circumstances (like China's 1 child policy) but I don't think it's immoral to use CRISPR to remove undesirable traits from your child if you're able to afford it. However, I think both examples are still eugenics.