OK then - everyone needs to attend Ranger school.
The liberals keep running into the same wall over and over again. They want everyone to live “perfect” lives. And perfect lives require a lot of resources. The Democrats know they can’t tax the rich and get enough money to give all the poor a perfect life. So when you can’t add to reach perfection, then you must subtract. You have to have fewer living poor. Abortion is one way. Homosexuals don’t reproduce, so homosexuality is encouraged. The liberals believe that our planet can only support 30 million people. That means billions of us are going to have to die. And we will have to die to allay the irrational fears and illogical dreams of liberals.
Here’s the sticky part: what if he’s right? What if we really are slowly accumulating genetic damage? I know such problems won’t be universal. Here in India many marriages are arranged based on how successful and educated the potential spouse is. As the damage accumulates, it will become one more selection criteria. In societies like the US, it will be a more informal process, so the division won’t be quite as stark, but it will be there.
The good professor, as with so many other lefties, (see Sultan Knish’s recent essay on gun control) assumes the population is unable to make discriminating choices on their own. The degradation may happen, but there will be a group who select themselves out of it on their own.
There are many scenarios here:
My “favorite” example of how difficult it is to USE genome mapping is: the same DNA strand that causes sickle cell anemia also prevents malaria. Whoops! In the wrong context culling the first causes a malaria epidemic!
But, let us suppose the genes for blindness, deafness (don’t get me started), Downs, and the so many other childhood illnesses are found before current amnio?
Stopping an early egg from continuing is FAR from the 2nd and 3rd trimester abortions we see now. Before you all gang up on me, hear me out:
Assume we get ALL we want. Reverse Roe v Wade. No abortion after a fetus is recognizable.
To convince people (men AND women) that a 2 or 3 day microscopic mass of cells is the same as a developing fetus (even the 2 week variety) just won’t wash.
As the detection gets earlier and the range of avoidable morbidities grows, certain populations will probably cease: Downs’ at birth will probably be non-existent in the Western world in 15-20 years. Childhood MS, Type 1 Diabetes and many more are on the same track.
These aren’t value statements: they are projections of what think WILL happen. Please attack me for an inaccurate model, not the implications of my model.
Reality: The day is already here when we watch reruns of astronauts flying to the moon on spaceships we can no longer build.
Ooops! I left out the most interesting scenario: the movie “Idiocracy.”
It is funny, but based on a strong principle: when survival is no longer a factor (dumb people get eaten or can’t eat), then nature only “rewards” fecundity.
And in our world AND the general direction, smart people tend to ave few if any children. Dumb people breed like bunnies (these are trends: I know people who are smart who have lots of kids — and those kids are smart).
If the numbers don’t result in islam overrunning civilization, stupidity might finish the job.