breeding for beauty/intelligence

[JBrown72073 at cs.com]

>>I don't really see why people think a world populated by persons
>>intelligent, altruistic, and beautiful to the nth degree would be such
>>a terrible place.  Sure, we ought to be skeptical of the means, but the
>>ends would be unquestionably good (if good is taken to be a meaningful 
term).
>>
>>- -- Luke
>
>Oh. Have they discovered a gene for altruism? But seriously folks. The
>problem with this is that it is better to be fully human than it is to
>be an object. Even an intelligent, beautiful object. Life is not an instance
>of shopping. That's all.
>
>Breed roses!
>Joanna

If human intervention as seen in dog breeding is any guide, I'll fight for 
continued muttitude.


>Yes, breeding humans as though they were cattle would be a disastrous
>experiment.  However, I'm not so sure that altering the genes of our
>future offspring so that they will will have the best possible
>chance exemplify what is best in us would be such a bad idea.
>- -- Luke

Maybe we could start on the offspring with a program of feeding them well, 
keeping them warm, encouraging them and not beating them or locking them up.  
Once we've gotten the hang of that, then we can go on to more advanced stuff 
like health care and education.  By then we'll be old and they won't need or 
heed our dumb ideas about genetically engineering offspring to be pleasant, 
flat-assed blondes that test well.

Jenny Brown