this post was submitted on 11 Aug 2023
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Eugenics sounds really cool. Not the mandatory sterilisation style, but breeding superhumans? Don't pretend that wouldn't be cool.
The problem is, you and me wouldn't be superhuman. Being a broken-ass, second-rate, classic-style human in a world of superhumans would absolutely not be cool.
I already feel that way, but yeah I'm sure it would go terribly wrong.
Not if we are breeding super humans for meat
I can absolutely guarantee you that it would be the (supposedly) "superhumans" who would turn out second-rate... have you seen what eugenics have done to dogs lately?
Personally, with the advent of gene editing I think breeding "superhumans" will inevitably become the way of the future.
It will likely only be available to those who can afford it and will create an even deeper rift between the "haves" and "have nots" than is already in place.
CRISPR is a really recent development, and I don't think people truly realize how earth-shattering this new technology will be. Natural evolution is dead for all intents and purposes and we stand at the brink of a new era where the reigns to our own evolution have been thrust directly in our hands. Shit's gonna be wild.
One thing that makes me think otherwise is how amazingly inexpensive CRISPR is! You can get hold of some for about $150 and do your own eugenics at home! And it isn't that difficult to learn to do either. Shit, all three of my kids are basically little Bashirs... but don't tell the government that!
The counter argument to that would be "why not just fund better schools?" We absolutely know how to make the population more intelligent, and it's a bit weird that countries like UK and US are actively doing the opposite.
I'm talking about big fucking ΓΌbermenschen with two hearts, don't misrepresent me. Who needs book smarts when you've got kangaroo tendons?
It would never be that though. It would be some sort of EA games style- "for 50,000 bucks we will move the class C genes that cause bleeding asshole syndrome and ingrown nails, but Parkinsons falls in the $100,000 class B tier, and cancers fall in class AA tiers, which is only $140,000 (save 14% during the 9/11 sale!)"
And then years later, you'll find out that some wealthy family paid $30 and a hand job for the AAA+ Diamond Supreme+ tier, which is why they are cancer resistant, HIV resistant, have a 19 inch penis, and live for 140 years even though their grandfather was dumber than a box of rocks and made all his money ripping off contractors for his failing casinos and bad property deals.
And those tiers? Each one only costs $20 to manufacture the medicines for, but that EA company has a patent that they change juuuuuust enough to renew every 20 years.
but then we get a gattaca situation down the line
Of course in reality, if you don't save anything for the swim back you just drown. You really must save some for the swim back.
"Superhuman" at what? I can't think of anything dumber than trying to breed "desirable" traits into humans - for every "desirable trait" you put in you are ignoring a plethora of traits that allowed our asses to survive for the last 2 million years.
I don't know, the more arbitrary the better. Foot hands, maybe.
Or sausage fingers?