Now… I am not sure if I want to have kids or not, but I wanted to bring up this topic because I am curious to hear your opinions. Apparently I am one or those people that are blessed with very good genetics.
First let me list out a few of my genetic characteristics for you so you can understand the concept.
I view my brain as my largest asset. My mom is brilliant but I surpassed her when I was 16. My dad was extremely athletic and was quite smart, but no match for my mother… I am a very fast learner. I learned to speak russian fluently in 9 months, french in 6 and I’m starting arebic soon. I have an eidetic memory and I also remember things like speech patterns, voice pitch and visuials. I read nearly 20,000 words per minute while still comprehending each word. My IQ is between 210 and 225 according to my last IQ test. I always think many steps ahead. I am a psychopath, which I view as an advantage not a disadvantage; a lack of empathy provides clarity in high stress or emotional situations. I also seem to be a natural alpha personality. I’ve always been in the power position of a group since elementary school.
I’m also very athletic. I’m 6’ 4", can run nearly 30mph, and can lift or bench 140 pounds even though I only weigh 175 pounds.
I also have a rather symmetrical face…
I don’t mean to sound arrogant or conceded, and I would never have a child if I didn’t want to have one.
But back to my question, wouldn’t it be a bit of a waste of my genes if I didn’t pass them on to a child? It almost seems like a disservice to humanity.
I know this is a terrible thought, but I’m curious as to what you think. The idea expressed above isn’t my personal view on the subject, but rather a thought I’ve had. Please pass no judgement, this is just a simple idea.
It is not hard to understand that the claim to fluency is one based on the self-perception that is not very likely to have the strong basis in a neutral evaluation.
He claims fluency in the French language after six months of study. It is to be doubted that a neutral evaluation of the language skills would support the claim to fluency.
Absolutely, I love kittens and puppies too by the way. My best friend up until I was 14 was severely autistic.
This wasn’t meant to be an emotional question, and I don’t plan or condone the ideals I meantioned, this is much more a hypothetical… If all of the smart people in the world intentionally had children strategically, would our society as a whole be better off a hundred years into the future.
This question wasn’t a moral question as it’s obviously immoral in our current society. I was just curious to see the ‘intelligent’ responces.
Oh and by the way, I did a semester abroad in france and my girlfriend is russian. I would dare say that she knows her language considering she spent 20 years there. But this post isn’t about me, it’s about the logical implications of the hypothesis. For example, if einstein’s parents chose not to have a child, what impact would that have on the world today. There are so few true geniuses on this planet, is it a disservice to not allow one to exist?
Most geniuses are a byproduct of lust and it’s nearly random that they turned out the way they did. If it was likely that your child will be so brilliant that they can have a einstein level or hawking level of impact on the world is it a disservice to society (disregarding moral and ethical reservations) to not allow them to exist?
Nature vs. nurture comes to mind here. So to answer your question: no, I do not think it would be a disservice to humanity if you personally choose not to breed.
I have no interest in letting someone else raise my own child. Someday I do want to be a parent. But I will raise my own child… part of the reason I’d never donate sperm is because If i didn’t have a parent with the level of intellect my mother did, I likely would have turned out a criminal of some sort or at least a menace to society. She was the only person I was unable to manipulate by the time I was 12 years old.
In that case, you are hosed until you want to parent - which is quite different from breeding. Wanting to parent is wanting to parent so bad you accept the risk your kid may be born with mental or physical disabilities. Wanting to parent so bad that you know that your dream child will be a real person who might get Cs in History and gets cut from the Basketball team and gets caught smoking weed. Wanting to parent so bad that if they are 40 years old and still living in your basement you are ok with that. Knowing that they could die before you and it would still be worth it. Knowing that you’ll be making huge sacrifices to raise them - you’ll give up time and spend a ton of money and have days when what you really want to do is go hang out with friends and instead are dealing with a sick and cranky toddler.
And don’t think for a second that those things could never happen to you.
I have a friend with a daughter with severe CP. I have a friend whose son died at 21 from an accidental overdose of Nyquil and the prescriptions he was taking - as prescribed. One raising a grandchild born their daughters senior year in high school. One whose son has been hospitalized for mental health issues three times. These are bright people with good genes who have been excellent parents. In my parents generation, I know a set of parents who lost both their kids - one to a heart defect they didn’t know he had - the other to a car accident - within two years of each other - they were both sixteen. My sister was in and out of rehab for five years, putting my parents through a special hell - at the same time my other sister had breast cancer. I know someone whose nearly 50 year old son still lives in their house having never held a real job. - Again, good parents, good genes - shit happens.
The world doesn’t need your genes - there are plenty of smart, good looking, athletic people out there - your genes won’t make a bit of difference to the overall gene pool.
The problem with your question is the assumption that high intelligence and/or athletic ability and/or good health and/or a lot of other traits are dependent on being homozygous for a few selected genes. There is no proof that is the case.
It may be that all of those traits are dependent on a person being heterozygous for various genes, in which case attempting to match people high in those trait may result in something other than progeny high in those traits.
Keep in mind, too, that there is some correlation between high intelligence and problems like mental illness or autism.
There are also different forms or aspects of intelligence. You are claiming unusually high ability with languages. That’s a different form of intelligence than being a math genious.
So… if hypothetically a math genius mated with a language genius the resulting children may only have average abilities in those skill areas.
And you also need to work on humility a bit. :rolleyes: