A Thousand Chinese Einsteins Every Year

TCS Daily ^ | 02 Oct 2007 | James Miller

[Jedi Master Pikachu]

ping for future (hopefully this thread gets lots of comments).

[PeterFinn]

It's a Brave New World.

[Jigajog]

Yea a thousand Chinese Einstiens and no Chinese women - great trade. I have had some deep thoughts before, but they don’t replace women.

[pieceofthepuzzle]

Einstein had lots of issues in his personal life and I certainly would not have wanted him running a country. Yes, he was a very talented physicist, sometimes right, sometimes wrong. The point is not specifically about Einstein. It’s about the question “What is intelligence?”. ‘Smart’ people have done some terrible things in this world of ours. Makes me wonder who is even qualified to define ‘smart’. I know this is a little off topic, but I couldn’t help myself.

[bmwcyle]

The only thing they will have is a bunch of pissed off men without women.

[T-Bird45]

ping for future (hopefully this thread gets lots of comments).

Unfortunately, most of the comments will want to focus on the destruction of the non-selected embryos rather than to discuss the broader technological issues or the bioethics of selective reproduction that results in 1000 Einsteins.

Just for the record, I do not support abortion but would like to see this thread have the more focused discussion. Abortion can be discussed as a subject unto itself without a total thread hijack.

[SolidWood]

Yipee! Breeding robot-geeks for the greater glory of People’s Republic of China. Maybe they can also breed out any dissent, wrong thoughts, love, compassion, second guessing and urge for freedom. Soulless order-obeyers that need only a bowl of rice a day. I’m sure Hillary has already ordered her personal clone army.

[snarks_when_bored]

Einstein was a free thinker who would not be told what to do by anyone. Let's hope China does produce a thousand Einsteins who succeed in subverting the authoritarian Chinese state.

[toast]

If they end up with 1000 Einstein’s I’m sure they’ll figure out a way to depose the present dunderheads that run the country and implement a free society.

[Red Badger]

The only thing they will have is a bunch of pissed off men without women.

Or a lot of gay Chinese.............

[RedQuill]

No prob. Our undercover agents sneak some DNA into their labs, and before you know it they’re overrun by a million Chinese Murthas, Pelosis and Schumers. Glub*glub*glub*—GaAAcK!

[M. Dodge Thomas]

If it turns out that there is a generic predisposition to “religious belief”, and you believe that the non-religious are doomed to eternal damnation, would it be moral NOT to select for children likely to be religious?

[SolidWood]

They will breed out any libido aswell... heck! Why not just breed hairless, asexual hyper-intelligent uber-humanoids?

[M. Dodge Thomas]

I’m surprised that some “Dear Leader”, somewhere, is not alredy forcing every woman in the country to do their patriotic duty and carry his sons.

[Reeses]

This is assuming there’s a silk purse in there somewhere with all the sows ears. More easily a parent can dramatically increase the IQ of their children by some unknown combination of 1) choosing a smarter person to mate with, 2) the mom eating just right while the baby is developing, 3) feeding the child just right, 4) the right mental stimulation, 5) education and upbringing, 6) physical stimulation.

[SolidWood]

Would give a new meaning to “Father of the People”.
You may be on to something.

[Red Badger]

Why not just breed hairless, asexual hyper-intelligent uber-humanoids?

[pieceofthepuzzle]

Not so sure. I’m a believer in the adage that ‘it would be better to have the country run by a group of people picked randomly from the phone book than by the entire faculty of Harvard’.

[ConservatismNow]

HYPER-INTELLIGENT. Not just hairless and asexual.