Riiiiggght......

[patgund]

Morlocks and Eloi anyone??

Human species 'may split in two'

"Evolutionary theorist Oliver Curry of the London School of Economics expects a genetic upper class and a dim-witted underclass to emerge.

The human race would peak in the year 3000, he said - before a decline due to dependence on technology.

People would become choosier about their sexual partners, causing humanity to divide into sub-species, he added.

The descendants of the genetic upper class would be tall, slim, healthy, attractive, intelligent, and creative and a far cry from the "underclass" humans who would have evolved into dim-witted, ugly, squat goblin-like creatures."

Comments

[tepintzin.livejournal.com]

I don't buy it. Given the new (and in my opinion reprehensible) tendencies towards being able to make custom children, there's a good chance we'll all look alike eventually.

Furthermore, look at all the pretty stupid people and "ugly" smart people. Either we're going to stay intermarrying and left with the Mendel's cross of looks we have so far, or everyone is going to become pretty and smart.

[duckflambe.livejournal.com]

Actually I think that the ability to make custom children is the most likely cause of splitting our race in two (or more).

At least at the beginning, the tech will cost far too much for everyone to have access to. So the rich will have "uber-children" and the rest will suffer.

Even if everybody had access to the tech, people's idea of what make the best child is different from person to person. People in a cold location would want children who could handle the cold. Some cultures value free thought while others might see that it is important that their child fear god at birth.

How about a world where the tech to make uber-children is expensive, but major corporations will modify your child for free. He/She will be free of disease, live an extra-long and happy life, and want to drink Pepsi at least 5 times a day...

[caprine.livejournal.com]

Bwaha! And his/her freckles will all be tiny replicas of the Pepsi logo...

[henglaar.livejournal.com]

Its interesting how he has decided that despite the trend for intelligent people to be "geeks" and less physically attractive, that somehow the intelligent ones will be the beautiful ones.

Personally, I subscribe to C.M. Kornbluths theory that the dumb ones will vastly outnumber the smart ones, and there will be this terrific struggle to keep civilization going despite the disparity in numbers.

Of course, sometimes Im nearly as cynical as Kornbluth, who also said "There is a finite amount of intelligence on the Earth", and then pointed out that the population is still growing . . .

[mmegaera.livejournal.com]

How optimistic of him. He really thinks we're going to last another 1000 years as a species?

Then again, that is the time of Miles Vorkosigan... [eg]