This.
The next generation, provided there is one, will be fine.
You trust wrong; as in the OP it’s a restore to factory settings.
I’d withhold the cure until we got to about 10% of the population we have now. Then we’ll look at giving it to selected people; it’s time we bred humans for getting better, not worse.
Oddly enough these last 24 hours I’ve read articles or had conversations where my personal opinion about procreation and its ties to income inequality always return to inexperienced, immature and uneducated women/couples having babies placing them in an unending cycle of poverty, abuse, and crime.
If it was harder to have kids, do you think that abuse, neglect and abductions would be as rampant?
This is that one time where when we make the semi serious comment about “need a license to fish and to own a dog, but any dumb@$$ can have a kid” ( paraphrasing Keanu Reeves (!) character from the movie Parenthood) we can actually require a license. It would be a long process, but I do believe that an application process with factors tied to passing classes, fees and civic/ social activism in the form of volunteering would be some of my new world order requirements .
I’d leave the cure in trust until either I died or some arbitrary point just after that and then release it for everyone.
I think we’re mostly thinking of North America here - what would the world-wide repercussions of this change be? That’s part of why I’d withhold the cure for everyone - I wouldn’t just give it to North Americans and not Africans, for example.
If preventing Red Sox and Yankees fans from reproducing is madness, well, then, yes, mister, I’m mad.
Sell it to big pharma for lots of money. I don’t care who gets to have it. A black market will spring up anyway. And besides, the future offspring of the afflicted will be able to reproduce freely, so I don’t see this significantly bottlenecking humanity’s growth in the long term.
It would definitely be more power than I should have, although not nearly as much as I want to have.
I would charge a high enough fee - about $5000 per person - that it slanted against poor people (and Third World countries). Plus make me disgustingly rich. It would be awful hard on Africa, but what’s the point of having power if you can’t abuse it in ways that do not respect the dignity of the human spirit?
Regards,
Shodan
Until I have more money than Bill Gates nobody’s gettin shit.
After that anyone who wants it can have it for free.
Well that’s sad. I was rather hoping the pill would let me play the piano too.
Except by that time, most of the 10% will 70 years old or more - who do you think is going to be having the babies?
If you’re going to do a breeding program, you’re best off starting it right away, I’d think. Just give the cure to the 10% (or whatever) that you think are the right sort.
To me, parenthood involves sacrificing for your offspring. Giving of your time and love to ensure that the child has the best chance to succeed. I voted that I would give a test of my choosing. My test would be one of public service and sacrifice. A certain level of public service hours over a given time frame to show that you can give up your “life” for another’s good. Same requirement for rich/poor, any race, creed, or background. The requirement will be long term, and will require something to be done daily. I would say 730 hours done over a year. 2 hours a day should be enough, and immature/selfish people may be abl to start it, but most likely would not be able to get all the way through it. Some school kids may be able to complete it and not fail out of school, but it would show the difficulty of raising a child and dooing school work at the same time. I will create a human race where compassion and sacrifice are traits that are selected for.
Of course in the real world the rich/powerful will find a way to cheat the system, but this in a hypothetical orld.
Not to mention if we have a program like that the sharp population decline means there are going to be a lot of old people dying in corners with no services or support. There is no humane way to continue civilization with only a 10% birth rate.
So far I think this is the best option.
I think humanity would be infinitely better off if we could eliminate problems with fertility. Those problems include being fertile when you don’t want to be and being infertile when you don’t want to be.
I can’t think of any reason I would ever turn the switch back on for people who don’t want it, and I’m not tempted to stand as judge over other people’s lives to determine if they are worthy of breeding.
So, I would give it to anyone who wanted it.
Once it becomes known I have the cure - and it will become known - I’ll be #1 on every state’s kidnap list, so it’s in my interest to promulgate the cure freely ASAP.
And going down in history as the man who saved humanity has a considerable cachet.
This.
No, it wouldn’t be. You can’t identify all carriers of genetic defects, and even if you could, I suspect that there would be almost no “genetically perfect” people.
I can’t imagine answering anything but the second option. The first option is ridiculous, because it forces people into that possibility which they may not want. And anything restricting who may or may not reproduce is tantamount to eugenics, and I’m pretty sure we’ve already figured out that was a bad idea a long time ago.
Sure, on it’s surface, it might seem like a good idea to maybe weed out a few people, but how can we possibly decide that in a reasonable way on such a massive scale? Even if we could decide on desirable traits, how can we possibly scan for it? It’s possible someone could be quite healthy but be a carrier for any number of genetic disorders. Hell, there’s also countless examples of people with debilitating genetic problems that make huge contributions to society. And, of course, as you get into other things like maybe intelligence, fitness, beauty, wealth, the factors become even more nebulous than the mud we already have in just plain genetics.
So, yeah, the only morally sound stance I can possible see is providing it to everyone who want it. I’d even be repulsed by someone who would intend to charge more than a reasonable market value.