Selective Breeding

[londondave]

If the streets are becoming anarchic like the papes portrait. How do people feel about selective breeding? ie: only those of a certain level of intelligence allowed to have kids and those on a certain monetary income etc. career criminals being sterilised.

[jno]

Excellent idea! I'd start by sterilising anyone nerdy enough to spend all day asking questions on websites! You, on the other hand, might want to disqualify anyone with three-letter user names... the real point though, is who sets the rules? If it's Chelsea fans, all Man U fans would be euthanised, and vice versa. If it's David Blunkett (and it probably would be someone like that), it'd involve wardrobe checks to disqualify anyone owning a hood... and so on. I say let reproduction thrive. And don't believe what you read in the papers.

[redshoot]

Yes. Paedophiles, rapists, why not?

[netibiza]

It would not solve a thing.  Half of the football hooligans are lawyers and "clever people".   It's not a matter of breeding or money - it's upbringing.

[jake-the-peg]

"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."

http://www.eugenicsarchive.org/eugenics/

[londondave]

netibiza. that is my point, it is upbringing, therefore before anyone is allowed to have kids then they should take some kind of intelligence test or a parent test, just like a driving test it would be like having a licence to have kids.

[Gevs1966]

londondave that is a ridiculous idea! Sometimes I think people on this site don't actually live in the real world but some alternate world where practicality, logic and reasoning just don't exist.

[Lillabet]

I agree with netibiza and jake-the-peg.

Just a few questions to consider:

What if someone is a wonderful person and highly intelligent but poor - are they banned? Some charity workers etc make very little money.

How about intelligent rich criminals - drugs barons tend to have a bit of cash and a few brains?

What if you have children but then become very poor - maybe through redundancy or an accident / sickness that stops you working - should your children be removed?

What if you have children and then are convicted of a serious offence. It happens - do the children then get removed from the family?

Where do you set your barriers? Who decides what level of intelligence and / or wealth is sufficient?

What if someone who falls below your standards gets pregnant? IQ isn't fixed you know - you might get a different result under different tests and it can improve / decrease over time. They might have passed your test narrowly and now at the time of pregnancy would fail. Do you favour enforced abortions?

When would you test people to see if they would be allowed kids? Wealth can increase dramatically. You could win the lottery. At 24 I was finishing a PhD and surviving on a �6,600 annual bursary. Had you tested me then I'd have failed the poverty test - today I would probably pass. Had I got pregnant then would you have forced me to abort / give up my child to a richer parent?

When are you a career criminal? Most offences are committed by young men in their late teens and early 20s. The vast majority stop offending before they hit 30. A major factor in this reduction seems to be taking on family responsibility as there is a strong correlational relationship. If they have been forcibly sterilised at 20 say then you may be removing the possibility of a major stabilising event and actually increasing the chances of their becoming career criminals.

Have you really thought it through...

14:17 Wed 18th May 2005

[Lillabet]

Oh and with regard to your second post - an IQ test measures ability in areas such as pattern recognition and spatial reasoning. Not whether you would be a nurturing and involved parent who would set a good example through demonstration.

People who are nglectful parents or abusive aren't necessarily intellectually weak. There are plenty of 'not that bright' people who are wonderful parents and deeply involved in their kids lives. There are plenty of intelligent people who have various problems parenting.

I don't kniow if you saw the series 'brat camp' on channel 4 recently but all the parents on that would probably have passed your intelligence and wealth test. They also all wanted to help their kids who had gone wrong - what would you position be with regard to these people? Good parenting skills aren't a free gift that you get alongside a high IQ.

[newtron]

I agree with all of the above.  That is quite

[newtron]

Sorry.  I' not sure what happened there.  As I was saying, that is quite a scary idea.  Also, I don't think the "streets are becoming as anarchic" as many people think they are.

[smudge]

londondave - I do not agree with selective breeding in any way, shape or form.

Dealing with rapists, murderers, or career criminals, is a different matter altogether!

[londondave]

just for the record i wondered what people thought of the idea, i did not say it was my belief.

[netibiza]

Oh londondave - if taking a parental test was that simple - In theory I would have scored 100 per cent - in reality I'm struggling like any other parent to bring up children decently with morals and values.  Hopefully these qualities will win out in the end. 

[OBonio]

I thought the only parental test in existence was becoming a parent for real?

[mystress]

Just what is your surname ~ HITLER?

[ICEMANSAV]

In all fairness londondave is echoing an opinion, everyone has them, some people air them some don't.

[MargeB]

When you go to a party, meet Mr X, let him chat you up, go for a date, fall in love, get married, have kids, picking Mr X, and NOT Mr Y (sweaty boring annoying guy in the corner) you are engaging in 'selective breeding'.