From: Dickey, Michael F (michael_f_dickey@groton.pfizer.com)
Date: Mon Jan 20 2003 - 14:23:01 MST
-----Original Message-----
Various comments in this thread...
"I recommend obtaining DNA from the highest IQ people in the world. Then
solicit scientists as volunteers to each adopt one of these clones and agree
to raise them as their own."
"The papers I mentioned demonstrated that even 100% heritability of
intelligence is swamped by the other factors. Cloning doesn't matter
in this respect. "
"Yes. And then it becomes a matter of where to place your money. On 20
extremely expensive children or 2000 potential children?"
"If you want to accelerate the singularity, isn't it more cost-efficient to
find ways of bringing extra stimulation to the already existing kids that
have good potential but too little stimulation?"
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There are plenty of great kids and people with great potential out there.
For starters, all the kids out there waiting for adoption. I have heard it a
few times on this list someone asking for a single good reason to have
children, it seems that making them more likely to contribute to the global
standard of living might be a good one. Religions employ this tactic
unshamefully, mormons have as many kids as possible for the sole reason that
its far more likely someone will become mormon if you indoctrine them from
birth. However, it seems extropians wouldn't care all to much for the
arbitrary propogation of any particular genes, but instead value the
propogation of valuable memes. Memes such as creativity, logic, reasoning,
motivation, curiousity, etc. etc. It seems that the more people out there
that have such memes the better we will all be. So right now there are
thousands of kids jumping from foster home to foster home from terrible home
life to another terrible homelife. Everyone of which has some amazing
potential to be the next Bill Gates, Tesla, Eisntein, Dali, or Beethoven.
Instead of cloning established scientists, lets adopt and teach kids from
the youngest possible age what we value and why. A school of transhumanism
would be nice as well. Secondly, there are plenty of other people, adults
and children, living in terrible conditions throghout the world, typically
under corrupt despotic dictators. Doing what we can to open them up to
eductation, progress, and development would be a positive step forward as
well.
Just my 2c
Michael
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