Selective Breeding of Humans

Completely ASB?

I give you a POD after 10000 BC, but it's in here because I really want to talk about when it kicks in.

Basically something like Sparta, mutilated children are killed, or not allowed to breed, their parents are also, not allowed to breed.

What would such a world look like, how advanced in tech would they be? What would their reaction be to genetics when they come about? Tiny population, or you could see forced breeding of alphas to generate more alphas?

When societies begin becoming top heavy do we see culling, or at least a completely halt of benefits, etc?

Perhaps there never is such a thing as benefits, socialism would probably not be a major part of this world, though totalitarianism might be.

Thoughts?
 
I think if there's anything humans are bad at, it's consistency across generations. And since by definition even a long-lived breeder may see two or at maximum three generations of stock in this case, the whole idea becomes very problematic.

Only softer societal control through religion or caste system may approach this idea, and even then...
 
Never going to last for long. Basically, the tribe that pratices this will be pretty small and will find their hunting land/farm land appropriated by the larger, hungrier tribe next door.:D
 
Deeply unlikely. It's been attempted many times and failed just as many. This is because people a.) aren't very good at selecting traits that are actually relevant to survival b.) a state or tribe doing this sort of thing won't survive long as the effort put into it is mostly a waste of resources c.) many positive traits (like intelligence) are of limited heritability anyway d.) many negative traits and birth defects are also of limited heritability e.) it's impossible to control who humans reproduce with. Just remember Sparta's 'virgin birth' generation. These sorts of measures are ineffective and undesirable, as a society's strength will tend to be in have diverse skills and abilities.
 
Results

You would wind up with a lot of verry good athleats. Sports are very popular and profitable. With selective breading the single season home run record would be at least 104. Pornography is also popular and profitable. Girls would all be big breasted.
 

cumbria

Banned
Eugenics invented by the English, put into action by the Americans and ruined by the Germans.

If you take away the Nazi legacy on Eugenics then it would still be in place today.
 
The biggest impact we're likely to see is from ethnic based eugenics, which has occurred relatively frequently OTL (the most obvious example is of course Nazi Germany). Tribe A has an equal population to Tribe B. Tribe A conquers Tribe B, then either exterminates them or puts limits on their potential population growth. Within a few generations, Tribe A is now much more common than Tribe B, if Tribe B exists at all.

Trying to breed for traits like intelligence or athleticism wouldn't make a huge impact, for reasons explained above.

Honestly, I don't see how there could be that much better an example than of your request than OTL!

You would wind up with a lot of verry good athleats. Sports are very popular and profitable. With selective breading the single season home run record would be at least 104. Pornography is also popular and profitable. Girls would all be big breasted.

No.
 
In a few generations you get lots of beautiful but dumb athletes. Remember all technological advances come from the weedy spotty nerds. Without weedy spotty nerds we wouldnt have the internet.
 
In a few generations you get lots of beautiful but dumb athletes. Remember all technological advances come from the weedy spotty nerds. Without weedy spotty nerds we wouldnt have the internet.

I was thinking that. I mean, I don't imagine

But smart athletes are going to be better than dumb athletes, so maybe it could just raise the basic fitness level. There are going to be smart and fit people, I'm sure not every great scientist couldn't run very far.

0.03 sec.
eu·gen·ics (y-jnks)
n. (used with a sing. verb)
The study of hereditary improvement of the human race by controlled selective breeding.


Yup, Eugenics. That's what I mean.
 
Depends on what kind of things would these people find desirable. If it was just physical strength and other factors commonly associated with male dominance, the society might actually lose a lot of geniuses because they were deemed undesirable due to their physical appearance/weakness.

Anyway, I don't think it's possible for pre-modern peoples to keep this up. Modern societies could do that, though it would require pretty totalitarian social organization. Something like... umm, Nazi Germany :p

Post-modern societies won't need it, because they'll be able to manipulate the genome without killing/sterilizing people who carry undesirable genes.
 
If eugenics had any validity then why hasn't anyone heard of Albert Einstein's parents or any of his children?
 
I give you a POD after 10000 BC, but it's in here because I really want to talk about when it kicks in.

Basically something like Sparta, mutilated children are killed, or not allowed to breed, their parents are also, not allowed to breed.

Isn't this basically just... "real life" or "OTL"? I guess it depends on what you mean by "mutilated", but while there are obviously a few exceptions, charity always existing of a sort, if you were not capable of sufficient labour to feed yourself you are likely to starve to death. Especially whenever there are periodical bad harvests.

As I see it it the only difference would be breeding your "best" males with your physically "best" females, except women in the period were, unsurprisingly given the dangers of childbirth and children generally, valued for their capacity in having children at all rather than passing on specific genes.

Hmmm. Interesting. I wonder if the attraction of eugenics has something to do with the significant reduction of child mortality in the late nineteenth century.
 

Stephen

Banned
In a few generations you get lots of beautiful but dumb athletes. Remember all technological advances come from the weedy spotty nerds. Without weedy spotty nerds we wouldnt have the internet.
Nonsence I am both extremely good looking and inteligent!
 
One other example worth considering was the Lebensborn programme under taken by the Nazis who sought to produce intelligent, physically fit, tall, blond, blue eyed Germans by allowing SS men and German women who met that strict criteria to breed like rabbits in special homes created for the purpose.

End result? Children born in the Lebensborn clinics had higher rates of infant mortality, physical handicaps, intellectual disabilities, stunted and unfit children than children in the general community.

In short, just because you breed two people with good genetic stock doesn't mean their off-spring is going to be born with good genes.
 

Kharn

Banned
In a few generations you get lots of beautiful but dumb athletes. Remember all technological advances come from the weedy spotty nerds. Without weedy spotty nerds we wouldnt have the internet.

Not really. Most Athletes are of at least average intelligence. And most nerds are simply uninterested in being fit, because they see it as a waste of time. But this is mostly an excuse at embarrasment.
It would take a while for the payoffs to appear, and you would need to be a nation which can already defend it self pretty well.
The most restrictions would be put on people with stuff like Cystic Fibrosis, this could easily have results within 20 years.
The second most would be a on shit like Diabetes. They would have maybe 1-2 kids.
This, along with a general National Fitness plan that everybody either meets the requirements or doesn't get citizenship. This would include mental fitness as well. Those who are in the bottom 30% would likely be neutered, even if they are above average in another area. Those who are below average but not terrible in one area while okay or better in another would likely be only allowed 2-3 kids then neutered. Those who are, objectively, simply superior, say those with 180+ IQs, pretty good Social/Emotional, while having little to no physical defects and being very good athletes, would likely have eggs and sperm harvested.
In short, it would require a large/massive bureaucracy, modern-day science and organization, a good bit of ruthlessness, (And Ironically) General, simple goals, 50-100 years of participation, and a culture of where nobody is slacking off because they don't care or are being lazy and this shit is heavily punished, everybody applies themselves, and a genetic class system with the top-most and above average having the most kids/descendants(The bureaucracy comes in handy here to prevent incest. Especially with the AA+ guys and gals having upwards of 200+ kids from them), with the absolute top people having their genes spread to those who 60% percentile or above.
It would take a long-time, and a lot of effort, but the pay-off would be a near-wipe out of most hereditary diseases, and a large general rise in Physical Fitness and intelligence.
 
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