1.  Does The Government Want To Genetically Engineer A Population Of
    Docile Taxpayers?
    by Ann Morgan
    septithol{at}yahoo.com

Exclusive to TLE

I just read what may be the most nauseating anti-freedom article I have
ever had the misfortune of coming across. The article was entitled 'The
puzzling future of intelligence' by Maxwell J. Mehlman. It was originally
published in the Boston Globe, but can now be read at:
http://www.homoexcelsior.com/archive/transhuman/msg04209.html

In brief, the article discussed the possibility that in the near future, it
may be possible via genetic manipulation for scientists to increase the
potential intelligence of a human baby. According to the author, this has
already been done with mice, so it is not so far-fetched, nor so far in the
future.

Now, here is where Mehlman gets disgusting. According to him, "We
cannot afford to do nothing: that is, allow the market for genetically
enhanced intelligence to operate without restraint" for the rather
flimsy reason that "The result would be too destructive to the fragile
belief in equality of opportunity".

He goes on to say that the access to genetic enhancement by the rich and
not the poor would cause the poor to lose hope that "they or their
children could ever attain positions of power or prestige".

In other words, the majority of people have had a 'belief' in 'equality of
opportunity' drummed into them by our government in order to keep the
sheeple content as happy little taxpayers, and if they were to lose this
'belief' the resulting social disorder might discomfit our parasitic
leaders.

Frankly, I do not find that such a 'belief' is a very good thing. There is
not, has never been, will never be, and should not be, any such thing as
'equality of opportunity'. Someone like Stephen Hawking is never going to
be a world class basketball player, any more than Dennis Rodman is going to
be a world class astro-physicist. We are all born with different talents.

What there ought to be in our society, but isn't, is FAIRNESS of
opportunity, and MAXIMIZATION of opportunity, neither of which exist,
because through various means, the government is busy making sure that
opportunities go to people not because they are the most deserving of them,
but for some other reason (such as their skin color filling a particular
quota). The same government is very also busy destroying as many
opportunities as possible through taxation and regulation.

Mehlman's solution to this is even more disgusting (believe it or not) than
his comments on the so-called 'problem'. According to him, people should be
required to obtain a LICENSE in order to be permitted to have
intelligence-enhanced children, and that "we might condition their
possession of the license on performing certain such socially desirable
functions". In other words, only the people the government approves of
would be eligible to get intelligence-enhancement for their children. You
can bet that anyone who writes 'anti-social' articles to publications such
as this one would be found 'not eligible'.

Then he goes on to say that we 'need a way to ensure that everyone, not
just the wealthy, had an opportunity to obtain genetically enhanced
intelligence'. According to him, it is 'too expensive' to subsidize this
for everyone whom the government decides is a good enough citizen to be
'eligible' for their license. Therefore we should have 'a national lottery
in which everyone would automatically be entered to win whatever package of
enhancement technologies was currently available on the open market'. In
other words, some people will have to subsidize the genetic enhancement of
other people's children, at the expense of their own children.

Frankly, this whole proposal reeks from beginning to end. It starts with
whining about a problem 'the fragile belief in equality of opportunity'
that would not exist if it were not for the government, and it's solution
is to put control of the whole human race's future and genome under the
control of this same government. I don't know about you, but I would not
let the government near MY potential children's genome with a 10 mile pole.
Even if they decided I was 'eligible' for their license permitting genetic
enhancement, how am I to know whether or not some government-run laboratory
is going to slip in a few genes ensuring docility along with the ones for
enhanced intelligence into the embryos they are working on?

Mehlmann also ignores (deliberately I believe) a number of social,
biological, and economic facts. First of all, although genetic enhancement
would probably be extremely expensive when it first became available, in a
free market, the price would soon drop, as the technology was perfected and
more efficient methods were found. A good example of this is computers, the
computer I am writing on costs about 20% now compared to what I had to pay
for it 3 years ago
($500 vs. $2500). 3 years before that, this amount of computing power (1.2
gigahertz) was not even available to the general public. 3 years hence you
will probably be able to pick up this sort of computer at a rummage sale
for $100, or 4% of what it cost when it first went on the market.

Also ignored by Mehlmann is that it is possible to very cheaply, if you
want to, spread desirable genes throughout a population. Sperm is a fairly
cheap commodity, in some case you can get it for free (or even be paid to
take it!) 18 years after the first intelligence enhanced children are born,
they will be interbreeding with other people in the population and
spreading those genes around at virtually zero cost, including among at
least some of the 'poor'
people that Mehlmann claims to be so concerned about. Of course, given our
government's dependence on unthinking taxpayers, perhaps that is what
Mehlmann is really afraid of.

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The author recommends reading: http://www.ayn-rand.net/Comprachicos.asp

The author says she would like hearing your opinions and/or reviews on this
article: mailto:septithol{at}yahoo.com

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