IT leaders from Silicon Valley pay up to $50,000 for genetic selection of "smart" children. Startups offer IQ tests for embryos, and parents-engineers create scoring systems to select the "optimal" offspring.
Technological leaders from Silicon Valley are actively investing in creating a "smarter" generation, using advanced methods of genetic testing and embryo selection, The Wall Street Journal reports.
Startups Nucleus Genomics and Herasight offer genetic testing of embryos for $6,000 to $50,000, predicting not only the risks of diseases, but also the potential level of intelligence. Demand for such services is growing fast. “Silicon Valley loves IQ“, says Nucleus Genomics founder Kian Sadeghi.
Two San Francisco engineers created a sophisticated scoring system to select the “optimal“ embryo based on disease risk and predicted IQ. Their daughter was conceived from the embryo with the third-highest predicted IQ but the highest overall score.
“It's a great science fiction story: the rich create a genetic supercaste that seizes power,“ says Hank Greeley, director of the Center for Law and the Life Sciences at Stanford University.
But in an environment where preschools require IQ tests and openness to new technologies is extremely high, such moral dilemmas are often ignored, he notes WSJ.
The most radical motivation is demonstrated by the so-called rationalists - a group of scientists at Berkeley who see genetic enhancement as a defense against the threat of artificial intelligence.
According to Benson-Tilsen, co-founder of the Berkeley Genomics Project, people with more advanced intelligence will be able to figure out how to make artificial intelligence correspond to human values or convince others not to create it at all.