Philosophy genetics

User34x February 04, 2021 at 21:40 1575 views 4 comments

What would happen if a very cognitively slow man who was product of generations of inbreeding had a child with a very intelligent doctor? What would the child be like? Would it be 'average' in intelligence or healthiness? Would the intelligent doctor genes override the poor genetic quality of the man to make a healthy child? Would the child inherit more of the doctor genes because they enhance survival?

Comments (4)

Jack Cummins February 04, 2021 at 21:55 #496940 0 likes

Reply to User34x
The idea of a ' cognitively slow' person raises a lot of questions in itself. What on earth does it mean to be labelled cognitively 'slow'. Also, the factors leading to learning disabilities are numerous, and not always genetic

Genetics is unpredictable. Two people who have exceptionally high IQs won't necessarily have a child that does. Also, genetics is about dominant genes and can have various results. In particular, children of a set of parents may not all look alike at all.

TheMadFool February 10, 2021 at 15:56 #498440 0 likes

Reply to User34x Smacks of eugenics at a level that's very dangerous - out of reach of the law to regulate - but which parent doesn't want a handsome/beautiful intelligent child? My own biases may be influencing the question but the myriad ways in which parents dress up their children in pretty clothes and such, the equally many ways they spend on good schools, tutors, etc. is quite telling in my humble opinion.

Also, take into account the fact that if fetuses show signs of severe physical and mental defects that would result in a poor quality of life compounded by an added burden to taxpayers' money, couples opt for abortion. A big hint, by my reckoning, that people want what you think and say they want.

For better or worse, we currently lack the knowhow to engineer babies. Also, can the existing socio-economic structures support such a policy? Can the world, in its current form, handle a situation in which everyone is a doctor or an engineer or a supermodel or a scientist? God knows.

Outlander February 10, 2021 at 16:31 #498444 0 likes

Bearing in mind I'm not a geneticist I'd say there's a good chance for some rather intelligent tendencies and ability... along with some not so intelligent ones. It'd be safer to say it would be more of a random mishmash then trying to say for certain whether the entirely random series and facets of traits, inclinations, disinclination, and inherent cognitive ability that we attempt to summarize with a single term (ie. intelligent or dull) is more or less likely to coincide with one social term/definition than the other.

Reply to TheMadFool

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TheMadFool February 10, 2021 at 16:59 #498452 0 likes

Reply to Outlander :up: Prediction's spot on but it really doesn't say much does it? What's the difference between thinking of doing something and actually doing that something? The free will defense of the problem of evil would say a world of difference but then I've heard that there's such a thing as thought crime.