Silicon Valley execs, computer scientists, wealthy AI doomsdayers, and high-net-worth couples are paying big bucks to grow the smartest babies their genes and cash can produce.
The Big Bet: The growing interest in “genetic optimization” is a natural evolution of the tech industry’s obsession with IQ, which has been put on a pedestal as the most important determining factor in success. For some, kids are now the ultimate legacy project.
Behind The Births: How much would you pay to make sure your kid is the smartest in class?
- Some parents are spending $50,000 for genetic-testing services from startups like Genomic Prediction, Nucleus Genomics, and Herasight, which claim they can screen embryos for IQ and select the highest-scoring one for implantation.
- Tech execs are also spending up to $500,000 for high-end matchmaking services, with preferences for high-IQ, Ivy League-educated partners in hopes of producing super-smart offspring.
- Two movements also push optimized procreation — pronatalists who think smart people should have as many babies as possible (Elon Musk is part of this group), and rationalists who believe that humanity’s best defense against AI are kids smart enough to control it.
The Future: Unsurprisingly, bioethicists aren’t thrilled about what amounts to voluntary eugenics. But as The WSJ points out, even top Bay Area preschools require IQ tests for admission — so the rat race for intellectual superiority is already well underway.
Ironically, Shai Carmi, an associate professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem who helped design the models used to predict IQ in embryos, admits the tests are “not very good.” At best, they might select an embryo with just three or four IQ points above average — “not going to be something to make your child a prodigy.” Baby steps, we guess.
Next Try: While it’s unlikely we’ll see a future split between high-IQ and “normal”-IQ humans à la the movie Gattaca, customizing babies could very well become an elite status symbol.
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