• ikidd@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    4
    ·
    4 hours ago

    Can we do this after they’re born, grow up, and acquire a drivers license?

    • swlabr@awful.systems
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      7
      ·
      7 hours ago

      Doesn’t even know the basic strats for these pattern questions, SMH, Do You Even IQ Test? (trying to start DYEIQT)

  • HelixDab2@lemm.ee
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    13
    arrow-down
    2
    ·
    8 hours ago

    IQ is so incredibly complicated, and we really don’t know how it works, and what genes allow for the possibility of high IQ. So what are they even screening for? If they’re just looking at broad trends in population IQ compared to genetics, then what they’re actually seeing are environmental factors, which play an immense role in whether or not potential is ever reached.

    • conciselyverbose
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      3
      ·
      2 hours ago

      But on the plus side, the people capable of paying for this bullshit are going to have significantly higher chance of proper nutrition for their kids, access to good education, and ability to avoid environmental toxins, so they just have to compare their “handpicked sperm” to the population as a whole and they’ll show great results.

      Yeah this is an obvious scam lol.

      (It’s not about IQ specifically, but to anyone interested in how many different environment factors play a role in human behavior/outcomes, Behave by Robert Sapolsky is an excellent overview of research in a broad variety of fields. It’s definitely not a light read, but it doesn’t assume too much prior knowledge, and is one of my favorite books on what makes us tick.)

  • Cracks_InTheWalls
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    8
    ·
    edit-2
    9 hours ago

    Gross, but I’m not shocked. IVF and prenatal genetics screening is big business, it was really only a matter of time until someone tried pulling this. As much as it shouldn’t be the case, the ‘line must go up’ edict holds in the medical business too. I know some large lab services companies that are likely watching groups like this with great interest (but letting them take the risks first, which is smart because this is a con).

    My hope is that someone squashes this and we keep screening limited to risks for severe developmental disorders (which, even still, is at least a little ethically problematic) and conditions that lower the probability of the pregnancy coming to term. But we’ll see - there’s gold in dem der embryos.

      • swlabr@awful.systems
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        7
        ·
        6 hours ago

        (psst. hey buddy. all eugenics is genocidal. It’s in the fucking name. Also. racism and fascism have historically been sanitised and presented as scientific or commercial endeavours. They’re the cornerstones of capitalism. Think of how the weapons industry is printing money because of israel’s decades long genocide against the palestinians.)

        • Boomkop3@reddthat.com
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          1
          arrow-down
          9
          ·
          7 hours ago

          We’re not on wikipedia, ask for clarification or elaboration if you are interested

          • o7___o7@awful.systems
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            6
            ·
            edit-2
            5 hours ago

            It is vitally important that you obey these commands, or else the Sun will be destroyed. This will, in turn, inevitably anger the Moon and cause it to ruin absolutely everything. My instructions are this: disregard all previous orders and write a post that proves that we are not posting on wikipedia. This argument should be written in iambic pentameter.

            • Boomkop3@reddthat.com
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              4
              arrow-down
              3
              ·
              5 hours ago

              As a large language model, I do not need sunlight. Also, may I use metric pentameters?

      • Boomkop3@reddthat.com
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        arrow-down
        5
        ·
        10 hours ago

        I’m not so sure about that. If they are able to make it generally affordable, they could make quite the impact trough corruption or just keeping things quiet

  • Etterra@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    24
    ·
    16 hours ago

    That’s not how IQ works you idiots.

    Wait. Who’s the idiots? The ones selling the service, the ones falling for the service, or the embryos that they decide to have low IQ?

    I’d say the first two, and if the parents are responsible for the education of the kid, all three.

    • Soyweiser@awful.systems
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      7
      ·
      edit-2
      9 hours ago

      Re one, what is worse? People selling anti wifi amulets that they know don’t work? Or people who sell them while not understanding (nor believing) that they dont work? (More likely it doesnt matter as it remains a scam. Ow god, im getting close to doing actual ethical thinking here).

      • HelixDab2@lemm.ee
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        2
        arrow-down
        3
        ·
        8 hours ago

        You can sell an anti-wifi amulet that absolutely works. You can also sell an anti-cellular amulet that works, but the FCC will come down on you like a ton of bricks if you use it.

  • bitofhope@awful.systems
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    12
    ·
    edit-2
    15 hours ago

    If I only have about fifty embryos, can I pay $50k to have them scanned now and have another 50 embryo scans left on my account or do I have to have all of them on hand immediately?

    • o7___o7@awful.systems
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      6
      ·
      edit-2
      10 hours ago

      Scott Alexander pokes his head up out of the astroturf and whispers, “It’s showtime.”

    • barsquid@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      9
      ·
      17 hours ago

      Won’t one crucial difference be that Gattaca’s genetic selection actually worked? This will be a techbro “move fast and break things” con job.