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Have you read "Brave New World"? Genetically engineered people, sorted into categories of capabilities, with all their needs for happiness provided, including r

by pmlnr 8y ago

Have you read "Brave New World"? Genetically engineered people, sorted into categories of capabilities, with all their needs for happiness provided, including recreational drugs.

oAlbe 8y ago
> sorted into categories of capabilities Artificially and massively genetically engineered and bred into categories, not sorted. It's an important distinction.
- pmlnr 8y ago
  This is a better description indeed.
- jfk13 8y ago
  So today, even if we haven't gone far down the genetic engineering path yet, we do have the tools for massive-scale social engineering. I wonder which will prove the more critical enabling factor for our very own dystopia?
- orbifold 8y ago
  The breeding and sorting is largely redundant given that Humans follow a capability bell curve naturally. Singapore, China try their best to tease apart that curve as accurately as possible. So does Israel (everyone takes an Intelligence test at 18 and this factors into which University classes you can attend, the Army unit you get assigned to and if you receive unsolicited Job offers by Intelligence Agencies (Mossad, Shabak))
  - throw0101a 8y ago
    I'd probably not want the results to be put into a central database, but I think this testing may a be a good idea in general if the only person that knows is the test taker. A lot of people have no idea what to do as a career, so both an IQ and a Big Five test may allow people to know more about themselves. I know Myers-Briggs is unscientific, but something like it could also help in determining good career paths. Have one test towards the end of elementary school and another at the end of secondary. (People can of course take them more often if they wish.)
squarefoot 8y ago
I haven't, and it's not the 1st time someone names that book to me, so I have to read it one day. The big problem though will be getting back to narrative; there has been a moment in my life when I got immersed into technical manuals, whether for work or personal projects, and from that moment I stopped completely to read novels: I still have that half read book by Gregory Benford with the bookmark set where I stopped; after that I didn't read a single novel in almost two decades although I was an avid (mostly sci-fi) reader. I don't have an answer for this, it just happened. I hope time will change this.

by pmlnr 8y ago

Have you read "Brave New World"? Genetically engineered people, sorted into categories of capabilities, with all their needs for happiness provided, including recreational drugs.

oAlbe 8y ago

> sorted into categories of capabilities Artificially and massively genetically engineered and bred into categories, not sorted. It's an important distinction.

pmlnr 8y ago
This is a better description indeed.
jfk13 8y ago
So today, even if we haven't gone far down the genetic engineering path yet, we do have the tools for massive-scale social engineering. I wonder which will prove the more critical enabling factor for our very own dystopia?
orbifold 8y ago
The breeding and sorting is largely redundant given that Humans follow a capability bell curve naturally. Singapore, China try their best to tease apart that curve as accurately as possible. So does Israel (everyone takes an Intelligence test at 18 and this factors into which University classes you can attend, the Army unit you get assigned to and if you receive unsolicited Job offers by Intelligence Agencies (Mossad, Shabak))
- throw0101a 8y ago
  I'd probably not want the results to be put into a central database, but I think this testing may a be a good idea in general if the only person that knows is the test taker. A lot of people have no idea what to do as a career, so both an IQ and a Big Five test may allow people to know more about themselves. I know Myers-Briggs is unscientific, but something like it could also help in determining good career paths. Have one test towards the end of elementary school and another at the end of secondary. (People can of course take them more often if they wish.)

squarefoot 8y ago

I haven't, and it's not the 1st time someone names that book to me, so I have to read it one day. The big problem though will be getting back to narrative; there has been a moment in my life when I got immersed into technical manuals, whether for work or personal projects, and from that moment I stopped completely to read novels: I still have that half read book by Gregory Benford with the bookmark set where I stopped; after that I didn't read a single novel in almost two decades although I was an avid (mostly sci-fi) reader. I don't have an answer for this, it just happened. I hope time will change this.