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shroomydan said:
This isn't even a question for philosophical discussion.

Sure it's an appropriate question for philosophical discussion.

There are three branches of philosophy: metaphysics, epistemology, and ethics. Whether or not those of superior ability have a duty to pass on their genes for the benefit of future humanity is a question which falls squarely into the field of ethics.

As an extreme example of the point I'm making, consider how the world would be, if everybody that could read beyond a grade-school level disappeared tomorrow. Who would genetically engineer better food crops? Who would make vaccines? Who would build the spaceships that may one day allow us to colonize other planets?

It seems to me that a less extreme version of that scenario will occur if civilized people of high intelligence stop having children, while their less developed brothers and sisters keep banging away.

It seems the worst case scenario of overpopulation would occur, if it happened that there were more people than the resources of the earth could sustain, while at the same time there were not enough people capable of increasing those resources or finding new ones.

Because those of lower ability are not going to stop reproducing at an exponential rate, those of higher ability need to keep up, so that the carrying capacity of the human habitat may increase with the population growth. Otherwise, things could get really ugly for the human species. When other animal species reproduce past the carrying capacity of their environments, the population suffers catastrophic death rates from disease and famine. Many of these species resort to cannibalism. I don't want to see this happen to humanity. Because we can't stop the ignorant from having so many children, the wise must find a way to increase the carrying capacity of the habitat, or find new habitats on other planets.

This is why is seems to me that if humanity is going to survive 'overpopulation', then those of superior genetic stock must keep their genes in the gene pool.

I suppose it's up to each person to decide if he cares about the future of humanity, and if his genes are worth passing on.

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kotik said:
with or without darwin, evolution seemed to have worked out just fine on its own.

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kotik said:
compared to what?

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shroomydan said:
those who are superior (you know who you are)

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those who are superior (you know who you are) have a duty to pass on their genes.

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kotik said:

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those who are superior (you know who you are) have a duty to pass on their genes.

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it seems you know the meaning of life or something? heh... i mean, even if these "superior genes" get passed on, what does it matter? Ants and cockroaches will still outlive us.

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That quote was actually made by ShroomyDan, not myself.

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