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This prophecy is flat out wrong because it ignores the future impact of genetic engineering. The rise of genetic engineering is going to allow humans to solely

This prophecy is flat out wrong because it ignores the future impact of genetic engineering. The rise of genetic engineering is going to allow humans to solely give birth to geniuses. This will more than counteract this idiocracy effect.

cblconfederate 5y ago
provided that we don't get so dumb in the meanwhile that we forget how to do genetics
oscargrouch 5y ago
It depends of how this will be laid out. If the future generations choose for a more homogeneous sort of intelligence it might trigger the opposite effect, as humanity might loose a sort of balance the natural world struggled to achieve. But if somehow they manage to understand organic balance and go for a more heterogeneous composition of inteligences, than it might work out as intended. I guess the best approach is to just reinforce and even boost the genes that are already there in the gene pool of the human being. Lets get just one intelligence characteristic for instance that will be sort of harmless to boost in everyone: give us more memory.. Except for the fact that forgetting about some things can do wonders to our psychology and for a human being resisting through all the years it must to.. Maybe the suicide levels will rise, and people unable to function in society will also rise, creating the opposite effect. The thing is, this is a really complex matter, and i hope that when we are ready to do this, we live in a more advanced society (morally and philosophically) than we do now, or else the consequences of people that are unable to understand the consequences of what they are doing, do it without being really prepared for it. For me, the the nazi-germany of the 30's is a (extreme) cautionary tale of a possible future of ours, where we are technologically advanced, but morally corrupt, and that combination will probably lead to the human kind fallout, if nothing changes.. Our technological progress is good, but we need to rethink other important things, and the movie is on spot over this (they had all the technology to solve the problem, but they had the emotional IQ of toddlers).
chrsig 5y ago
You're presuming that the species lasts another couple centuries.
InspiredIdiot 5y ago
I don't know why you would assume that. If the things most people value like social acceptance and popularity don't value intelligence why would the parents select for it even if they could? It will simply become a cheaper route to everyone being a supermodel than plastic surgery.
- fairity 5y ago
  Well, there's no reason to believe attractiveness and intelligence are mutually exclusive. Are you saying parents would choose to forego intelligent traits in their children when all else is equal?
  - InspiredIdiot 5y ago
    Agreed. It could easily not be an either/or thing. If you look at how services are charged today they always try to extract maximal value. So I doubt that it will just be "while you're engineering my child could you please make them better in every way for no additional cost to me?" The provider will have a premium package even if it costs them more to _not_ do it for market segmentation purposes. Look at Intel disabling parts of otherwise functional CPUs for an example. Given that, if people have the choice I think they will value looks more and be more willing to pay for those so unless intelligence is actually cheaper they won't choose it.
giantg2 5y ago
Just because someone posses intelligence does not mean they use it, or use it appropriately. Curiosity and becoming auto didactic are likely nurture vs nature. If you do have a societal shift in intelligence, then it will just change the baseline. IQ scores are relative to the mean. People will question what the point of the intelligence arms race is. Will it make life any better? Will it present more threats (more intelligent threat actors)?
- fairity 5y ago
  Agreed that it's unclear how future intelligence will be used. My only claim is that future generations will possess far greater intelligence than current generations.
  - giantg2 5y ago
    In theory, but we don't have any object way to measure it, right?

cblconfederate 5y ago

provided that we don't get so dumb in the meanwhile that we forget how to do genetics

oscargrouch 5y ago

It depends of how this will be laid out. If the future generations choose for a more homogeneous sort of intelligence it might trigger the opposite effect, as humanity might loose a sort of balance the natural world struggled to achieve. But if somehow they manage to understand organic balance and go for a more heterogeneous composition of inteligences, than it might work out as intended. I guess the best approach is to just reinforce and even boost the genes that are already there in the gene pool of the human being. Lets get just one intelligence characteristic for instance that will be sort of harmless to boost in everyone: give us more memory.. Except for the fact that forgetting about some things can do wonders to our psychology and for a human being resisting through all the years it must to.. Maybe the suicide levels will rise, and people unable to function in society will also rise, creating the opposite effect. The thing is, this is a really complex matter, and i hope that when we are ready to do this, we live in a more advanced society (morally and philosophically) than we do now, or else the consequences of people that are unable to understand the consequences of what they are doing, do it without being really prepared for it. For me, the the nazi-germany of the 30's is a (extreme) cautionary tale of a possible future of ours, where we are technologically advanced, but morally corrupt, and that combination will probably lead to the human kind fallout, if nothing changes.. Our technological progress is good, but we need to rethink other important things, and the movie is on spot over this (they had all the technology to solve the problem, but they had the emotional IQ of toddlers).

chrsig 5y ago

You're presuming that the species lasts another couple centuries.

InspiredIdiot 5y ago

I don't know why you would assume that. If the things most people value like social acceptance and popularity don't value intelligence why would the parents select for it even if they could? It will simply become a cheaper route to everyone being a supermodel than plastic surgery.

fairity 5y ago
Well, there's no reason to believe attractiveness and intelligence are mutually exclusive. Are you saying parents would choose to forego intelligent traits in their children when all else is equal?
- InspiredIdiot 5y ago
  Agreed. It could easily not be an either/or thing. If you look at how services are charged today they always try to extract maximal value. So I doubt that it will just be "while you're engineering my child could you please make them better in every way for no additional cost to me?" The provider will have a premium package even if it costs them more to _not_ do it for market segmentation purposes. Look at Intel disabling parts of otherwise functional CPUs for an example. Given that, if people have the choice I think they will value looks more and be more willing to pay for those so unless intelligence is actually cheaper they won't choose it.

giantg2 5y ago

Just because someone posses intelligence does not mean they use it, or use it appropriately. Curiosity and becoming auto didactic are likely nurture vs nature. If you do have a societal shift in intelligence, then it will just change the baseline. IQ scores are relative to the mean. People will question what the point of the intelligence arms race is. Will it make life any better? Will it present more threats (more intelligent threat actors)?

fairity 5y ago
Agreed that it's unclear how future intelligence will be used. My only claim is that future generations will possess far greater intelligence than current generations.
- giantg2 5y ago
  In theory, but we don't have any object way to measure it, right?