Stupidity should be cured, says DNA discoverer

New Scientist ^ | 2/28/2003

[Snerfling]

Fifty years to the day from the discovery of the structure of DNA, one of its co-discoverers has caused a storm by suggesting that stupidity is a genetic disease that should be cured.

On 28 February 1953 biologists James Watson and Francis Crick discovered the structure of DNA - the chemical code for all life. The breakthrough revealed how genetic information is passed from one generation to the next and revolutionised biology and medicine.

But in a documentary series to be screened in the UK on Channel 4, Watson says that low intelligence is an inherited disorder and that molecular biologists have a duty to devise gene therapies or screening tests to tackle stupidity.

"If you are really stupid, I would call that a disease," says Watson, now president of the Cold Spring Harbour Laboratory, New York. "The lower 10 per cent who really have difficulty, even in elementary school, what's the cause of it? A lot of people would like to say, 'Well, poverty, things like that.' It probably isn't. So I'd like to get rid of that, to help the lower 10 per cent."

Watson, no stranger to controversy, also suggests that genes influencing beauty could also be engineered. "People say it would be terrible if we made all girls pretty. I think it would be great."

[Snerfling]

Submitted for your consideration.

[vannrox]

But, would Democrats really want to have their Genes repaired?

[Sinner6]

But liberals are happy just the way they are.

[Keith in Iowa]

Deja view: Look here

[Pahuanui]

Excellent. I move that we begin with television network executives.

[hadaclueonce]

I have always said that "10% of the people will stupid stuff until they are killed, ie, putting a car up on cinder blocks, wiping down the garage floor with gasoline, getting drunk and passing out on railraod tracks, I just hoped they would do it before they reproduced." My theory is it is genetic.

[MonroeDNA]

I thought it was caused by John Lennon glasses.

[Paleo Conservative]

But, would Democrats really want to have their Genes repaired?

Yes, but they would add impairments to brilliant people to prevent them from getting ahead.

[Snerfling]

Here's a philosophical question: would you rather be a bright, reasonably compensated engineer working on cutting edge technology, or the village idiot transposed to Hollywood, making $20m per film, getting all the girls, and having people wait with bated breath to hear every utterance of your enfeebled intellect?

[Thebaddog]

Maybe these scientific knowitalls can find the gene for common sense and use it themselves.

[Khepera]

If we were all smart then who would wait tables or work at McDonalds?

[Smedley]

But, would Democrats really want to have their Genes repaired?

No, they'd want to genetically damage everyone else to spread the misery.

[pabianice]

When informed of the news, Hillary Clinton sneered, "What? Cure it? Where would we get new Democrats??!!"

[KarlInOhio]

Republicans want to make the stupid smarter.

DemocRATS look at the unfairness of it and reach for the lobotomy tools to equalize intelligence.

[Sergio]

One word - Viagra

Not everybody needs it, but the people wanting it (yes, even women) is a larger number than those needing it.

Let’s say this "genetic insta smart" stuff works and is safe, to very big ifs. What’s to stop everyone from using it? The bottom 10% will be really smart, but the folks originally at the top, would be like Wiley Coyote, a super genius. This, of course, would relegate the really smart lower 10%, back to idiot status.

Forget about smarts, what we need to work on is developing in folks a sense of right from wrong, personal responsibility, and logical thinking.

Just my two cents.

Best Regards

Sergio

[ArcLight]

When this stupidity cure is discovered, Watson should sign up for a double dose.

[oyez]

Here's one:

"Hey, Bert. I've noticed that this here acetone will strip that old floor wax. You run the buffer while I mop it to the floor."

[genefromjersey]

Oh, Lordy,Lordy, Lordy !

Did he open a can of worms !

Count on denunciations from the "Intellectual Elite", and a virtual " drawing, quartering, and hanging " in the Media !

[skinkinthegrass]

...or the village idiot transposed to Hollywood, making $20m per film, getting all the girls, and having people wait with bated breath to hear every utterance of your enfeebled intellect?

Bring to mind...Monty Python "Twit of the Year Contest" :)

[skinkinthegrass]

Really not too far from the Truth. 8)