Maximizing humanity's genetic future

Coming from a different thread, I came upon an thought: A lot of people feel like too many stupid ppl are having too many kids. At the same time, the best and brightest end up becoming too busy (or not motivated enough or fail to find partners) to have kids. This creates a disturbing trend. Those with the best genetic material to push humanity forward are ending up having their genetic line lost due to lack of time/motivation.

Now, I'm no a nazi trying to get genetic purity or anything, everything discussed here is purely hypothetical.

But what programs would you suggest were you given the charge of ensuring mankind's genetic future?

Would such a program even be ethical? What would its moral/social implications be?

My suggestion would be for a genetic donation program which would be required/highly encoursged for our best and brightest: they would be given tax incentives/holidays for as long as they choose to donate genetic material to our genetic banks to be frozen for use. This will have a catch: the children would be documented and would have zero claim for any of the genetic source's estate in terms of inheritance. And the genetic material would be stored and disbursed anonymously to prevent source from getting involved in the future with regards to their genetic offsprings.

The "best and brightest" would be selected via objective criteria such as IQ, quantifiable success in sports/sciences/etc and physical attributes such as height/physical strength/hand-eye coordination. Can also be selected from celebrities/models/etc.

Couples who want to have kids who use said genetic material would, themselves, would get tax benefits and perhaps incentives like scholarships/etc.

The Gattaca program.

Originally posted by Nibedicus
My suggestion would be for a genetic donation program which would be required/highly encoursged for our best and brightest

Originally posted by Lord Lucien
The Gattaca program.

Simpsons did it.

Difference would be that I feel that it should be highly incentivised.

I wish we had a way to prevent someone from having a child unless they take some kind of crash course on how to raise a child..plus they undergo psychiatric evaluation to see if they are the type of person who should even be raising a child. On top of that we'd also look at things like finances. I don't care if you'd be the best parent in the world..if you can't afford to take care of a child then you don't need to have one. On top of that I would try to avoid single parent households at all costs. Statistically speaking kids raised by a single parent are just worse off than kids that have two parents.

But I don't see how we could really enforce that. Even if we could I think people would have a problem with it..even though it would prevent a lot of tragedy and suffering.

If we had the technology to easily sterilize someone and it was 100% reversible then I would automatically sterilize everyone at birth. In order for them to get it reversed they would have to essentially meet all the qualifiers I listed above. I know that sounds extreme, but I just think the country would be much better off.

Oh one other thing I'd do is we no longer have situations where a child is being raised by someone who is also a child. I would also make it so nobody under 25 could become a parent.

Well, putting aside for the moment what exactly the 'objective criteria' would be and who would be deciding it, I'm not really in favour of there being a sperm/ovum repository of a select minority of humans for the species to dip into whenever we feel the need to breed a potential trophy baby. And if we are gonna go that route, skip the highly selective breeding program and all the costs associated with it--'highly incentivized' here means a shitload of money, I assume--and pour that money and effort into a genetic engineering program aimed and improving all human offpsring, everywhere. From everyone. Not just the select few "best and brightest", whatever that standard means.

Ah yes, the "Idiocracy" theory.

http://xkcd.com/603/

In less comical terms:
https://ciarvella.com/2013/10/13/the-flynn-effect-or-why-idiocracy-got-it-wrong/

I also once read a fascinating article that cited sociological reasons for why the theory falls apart. It basically boiled down to the idea that genetics are a small(ish) part of the equation, and a certain percentage of the population will gravitate toward intellectual pursuits that will move us forward as a species.

The only issue with reproducing is overpopulation. Education and birth control could nip that one in the bud. We're really not too far from having the solutions to most of the world's major problems; climate stuff is the last big frontier. It's just implementation that's a b*tch.

Do it like China and South Korea i believe from back in the days. A family depending on you're income should have a set amount of kids. That would stop the over population of the world pretty fast.

As for the Geniuses, i don't think much can be done. Reason why, is that most of them look at this world and see's all the ****ed up shits, and they have no reason to bring new life in this world and have them suffer.

Genius is a powerful word. You have to remember that many "geniuses", or just smart and clever folk in general, use their innate intelligence to better their lives and build their careers. It's well known that to do that in the Western world, and to enjoy the luxuries and comforts that such success and dedicated work can provide, tends to mean holding on off on having children and families. So they wind up having fewer children than if they started young (like all the less successful normies), or having none at all. That was the premise of Idiocracy.

Although, intelligent/genius or no, it's a fact that fertility rates across much of the developed/ing world are in decline.

Originally posted by SquallX
Do it like China and South Korea i believe from back in the days. A family depending on you're income should have a set amount of kids. That would stop the over population of the world pretty fast.

I'd sponsor extensive research into genetic engineering.