If we had embryonic screening for jerks...

[Aurora Firestorm]

Random question for y'all. There are a lot of hypotheticals here, so hold on to your hat.

Let's say that you are planning to have a baby (whether by your own body or technology, so the menfolk can feel closer to this question). Let's also say that we have discovered a screening technique that would tell us, by magically looking into the set of possible futures for your upcoming child, with absolute certainty whether or not this baby is going to turn out to be a straight-up jerk to most human beings.

If the machine answers "yes, he'll be a jerk," that doesn't mean the kid is going to murder anyone, or steal their stuff, or become a criminal. Maybe he becomes a bully, or maybe he just acts like a total asshole to people, or he's a misanthrope with no respect for others, or something. Either way, he's a small-time jerk, who does no large destructive things but who everyone generally agrees is not a nice person to be around.

This will happen no matter what you do. So with that, a couple of options.

1. If *any* child you had would turn out to be this way, whether adopted or birthed and no matter what the parents or raising of the child, would you choose to go childless?
2. If you were currently gestating a child (through body or tech) and were told that *this* child would be a total dick, but your next had another chance to not be so, would you choose to carry the child to term?

 

[Scarim Coral]

Mmm the screening remind me of that film Gattaca (not detecting jerks but determine the health and outcome of the child by natually birth).

Either way I would raise the child despite well knowing he/ she will become a jerk no matter how I raise him/ her even though I don't believe in nature in the whole nature vs nurture scenario. If this scenerio is where predicting the future had always been 100% than I would reconsider (depend how much I rely on technology to determine fate).

Also this video is interesting to watch in a similar scenario (well ok the child is evil, not a jerk)-

 

[Scrustle]

I would say that if a child grows up to be a jerk then you fail as a parent. If it were possible to tell without fail that that was going to happen then I would choose to not have the child. It wouldn't be killing or denying a child life if it was already in the womb or whatever, because the life hasn't started. If it were adoption, then the jerkishness wouldn't be the result of my failing as a parent, since I never was.

 

[Imthatguy]

The answer would be 'this child is a jerk' 100% of the time because quite simply genetics aren't blueprints merely conceptual designs.

 

[Rastien]

A child learns how to behave and react from its parents, there isn't such a gene that is the dick head gene shall we say.

If you were to take a baby away from the parents and raise them with a different set you will get a different child. It's all enviromental and what they are taught as they grow up... Of course there will always be exceptions that prove the rule.

 

[AngelOfBlueRoses]

Well, I'm one of those types who, despite believing in both nature and nurture, leans towards nurture in that sort of discussion so I think your hypothetical question spits on the foundations of many child psychologists.

And just to answer your hypothetical, since I don't want to be that guy, I'd still choose to have the child.

 

[chadachada123]

IF genetics worked like that, and genetics alone would determine if someone would be a dick or not, then yes.

I'd consider it a moral imperative to abort any fertilized eggs that would assuredly become jerks.

And all future jerks would have no one to blame but their irresponsible parents that decided to give birth to a jerk knowing he would be a jerk.

 

[Vault101]

nature vs nuture...to many variables

 

[Frozen Donkey Wheel2]

OK.....I'm going to get to the topic, but first a brief digression. I'm going somewhere with this, I promise.

Once, I was having a religious discussion with a Christian and they asked me what I would do if God came down and told everyone that, yeah, Christianity is spot on. I mean...I GUESS I would have to become a Christian, but I would be really, really confused about it. [Yes, I'm talking about religion. It's just an example, I swear I'm not trying to derail anything. In fact, I will ignore anyone who quotes me to complain about this example. Anyway....]

That's how I feel about this hypothetical scenario. Obviously, people AREN'T just born jerks, they BECOME jerks based on their upbringing. Pretending otherwise makes no sense, it's totally arbitrary. So....I GUESS I wouldn't have kids (in the first scenario), but I again: I would be really, REALLY confused about it. As for the second scenario...I guess I try to raise them anyway. I'd like to see how they become a jerk despite my attempts otherwise.

 

[Orinon]

Well now that I know the kid is going to be a jerk, there's nothing I can do, well not in the usual sense, you see When I learn my soon to be child is going to grow into a prick then I'll try to avoid this, and somehow my actions will cause him to be a jerk, assuming I'm going out of my way to prevent it.

Problem is that this isn't a genetic thing, there's no way to be certain, If I actually pay attention to the kid and raise them right, they might turn into a nice person.

 

[Risingblade]

Everyone is a jerk in their own little way.

 

[Smooth Operator]

So the kid will be a kid? My that is shocking news...
We all have the capacity to be ass hats it just depends on how we use it, you know "with great power" and all that

 

[Paradoxrifts]

We already several methods of doing that already, collectively they're called birth control.

 

[Quaidis]

I'd have the kid go full term and let them live their life. Jerks are pretty successful people and some high-pay jobs can only be done with jerks. For example, directors are jerks professionally.

Sure the kid may have a rather disastrous life-style through the first two decades, but who doesn't? Break a few eggs, spill some milk, and all that.

Personally, I'd rather offspring a jerk than a spineless kid that's afraid to enjoy life and terrified of what other people think of them.

 

[ShindoL Shill]

Bit hypocritical, seeing as I can be a jerk.
Bit hypocritical for probably everyone, because I know one person who I can say (to my fairly limited knowledge) hasn't been a jerk in her life.

 

[Don Savik]

So many people are missing the point. Its a magic machine, it can tell you the future of the child because magic. Its not using genetics, its run on hypothetical logic for the purpose of the question. Suspend your disbelief for a minute here folks.

Personally I don't like the idea of raising kids so I would choose no.

 

[The Ubermensch]

IF genetics worked like that, and genetics alone would determine if someone would be a dick or not, then yes.

I'd consider it a moral imperative to abort any fertilized eggs that would assuredly become jerks.

And all future jerks would have no one to blame but their irresponsible parents that decided to give birth to a jerk knowing he would be a jerk.

I agree, with the sentiment, but this is where is starts.

lets not forget that most "Jerks" are only really jerks in high school and normally grow out of that phase when they get older. There are exceptions to the rule sure, but if we start selectively breeding out those who are predisposed to being a Jerk at some stage in their life what next?

Jerk is also an incredibly subjective term.

So, I with my values and code would not exist in this hypothetical world (not because I'm a jerk, though there are some who would no doubt disagree), but if I did I would be part of a resistance movement; because this hypothetical society is on a very slippery slope, and the way we are today? I see it getting perverted even more so very quickly.

Mmm the screening remind me of that film Gattaca (not detecting jerks but determine the health and outcome of the child by natually birth).

Either way I would raise the child despite well knowing he/ she will become a jerk no matter how I raise him/ her even though I don't believe in nature in the whole nature vs nurture scenario. If this scenerio is where predicting the future had always been 100% than I would reconsider (depend how much I rely on technology to determine fate).

Also this video is interesting to watch in a similar scenario (well ok the child is evil, not a jerk)-

That Kid, no doubt I would keep.

Spoiler

Come on! Being the father of the girl who wrought and army on the world at age 20? fuck yes!

 

[viranimus]

If we had screening for jerks? I would not be alive. I say a lot of things that piss people off (perhaps not here) but at the same times a lot of the reason why it pisses people off is because too often I am right and there is nothing they can say to refute it.

So yeah, not really very behind this notion because I kinda like living and helping people out even if they dont want to hear what they need to.

Though, I do sort of resent the notion that misanthropy is a negative char trait.

 

[The Funslinger]

IF genetics worked like that, and genetics alone would determine if someone would be a dick or not, then yes.

I'd consider it a moral imperative to abort any fertilized eggs that would assuredly become jerks.

And all future jerks would have no one to blame but their irresponsible parents that decided to give birth to a jerk knowing he would be a jerk.

Don't say that. I mean that last part.

Right there, you're giving the unborn jerks of the world ammo with which to shirk the blame for their actions in true asshole fashion.

 

[geK0]

This thread is hilarious, yet deeply disturbing x D

OT:

Would the machine tell you how much of a jerk the person will be? What if the unit of measurement was in Simon Cowels, where the average person is about 10 centicowels (0.1 cowels) and Hitler is about 3 kilocowels. We could certainly do without anyone scoring over 10 cowels, but say if somebody was 4 cowels, they're quite a huge dick (4 times worse than a guy who crushes people's dreams on national television) but not so much of a dick that they deserve to never be born.