Oh, I guess, why haven’t I said this already: If you would, consider some trait that:
you have, and
is a mixed blessing, and
that many / most people would consider a detriment, and
that is uncommon.
I’l go first:
In my case, besides being Jewish lol, I’m maybe a little schizoid, meaning I have trouble forming connections / I tend to not maintain friendships / I tend to keep people at a distance, in a systematic / intentional way, somewhat to my detriment. (If this is right, it’s sort of mild or doesn’t fully fit the wiki page, but still.) So let’s say I’m a little schizoid.
This is a substantively mixed blessing: I have few lasting relationships and feel lonely / disconnected / malnourished, and am sort of conflicted about that because a lot of my intuitions say this is better than any available alternative; but on the other hand, I am a free thinker, I can see things most others can’t see, I can pursue good things that most others won’t pursue.
Now, if someone reads the wiki page, they will most likely come away saying “hell no!”, and would want to nudge their child’s genome away from being like that. Fair enough. I wouldn’t argue against that. I might even do the same, I’m not sure; on the other hand, I do think I have a way of thinking that’s fairly uncommon and interesting and useful and in some ways more right than the default. Either way, there’s no fucking way that I want the state to be telling me which personality traits I can and can’t pass on to my child.
Ok now you:
E.g. do you have a neuroatypicality such as autism, ADHD, bipolar, dyslexia? Some sort of dysphoria or mental illness? A non-heterosexual orientation? Etc. (I’m curious, but obviously not expecting you to share; just asking you to think of it.)
If so, consider the prospect of the state saying that you can’t pass this trait on.
If not, well nevermind lol. There’s a bit more theory here, just in case it helps; specifically:
Beyond that, any phenotype at all will correspond to some kind of consciousness. Someone with insomnia, even if they acknowledge that having insomnia is almost entirely worse than not having insomnia, might still wish to have other people with insomnia to be friends with, simply because an insomniac has a somewhat different experience and way of being than a somniac and can therefore understand and relate specially to insomniacs. So removing any type of person is to some extent changing who humanity is.
Finally, a given type of person (so to speak) might view themselves as part of a “cross-sectional coalition”. In other words, even though a deaf person is not only a deaf person, and views zerself as part of the whole human collective, ze might also view zerself as being part of a narrower collective—deaf people—which has its own being, rights, authority, autonomy, instrumental value, and destiny.
I do not have autism/ADHD/bipolar/dyslexia/dysphoria or a non-heterosexual orientation. If I woke up tomorrow with one of those, I would very badly want it reverted.
However, it seems obvious to me that if being a little schizoid made you a free thinker, able to see things most others can’t see, able to pursue good things that most others won’t pursue, then it does not count as “unambiguous net harm” and the government should have no say in whether you can pass it on. That’s not even close to the line of what the government should be allowed to prohibit.
Oh, I guess, why haven’t I said this already: If you would, consider some trait that:
you have, and
is a mixed blessing, and
that many / most people would consider a detriment, and
that is uncommon.
I’l go first:
In my case, besides being Jewish lol, I’m maybe a little schizoid, meaning I have trouble forming connections / I tend to not maintain friendships / I tend to keep people at a distance, in a systematic / intentional way, somewhat to my detriment. (If this is right, it’s sort of mild or doesn’t fully fit the wiki page, but still.) So let’s say I’m a little schizoid.
This is a substantively mixed blessing: I have few lasting relationships and feel lonely / disconnected / malnourished, and am sort of conflicted about that because a lot of my intuitions say this is better than any available alternative; but on the other hand, I am a free thinker, I can see things most others can’t see, I can pursue good things that most others won’t pursue.
Now, if someone reads the wiki page, they will most likely come away saying “hell no!”, and would want to nudge their child’s genome away from being like that. Fair enough. I wouldn’t argue against that. I might even do the same, I’m not sure; on the other hand, I do think I have a way of thinking that’s fairly uncommon and interesting and useful and in some ways more right than the default. Either way, there’s no fucking way that I want the state to be telling me which personality traits I can and can’t pass on to my child.
Ok now you:
E.g. do you have a neuroatypicality such as autism, ADHD, bipolar, dyslexia? Some sort of dysphoria or mental illness? A non-heterosexual orientation? Etc. (I’m curious, but obviously not expecting you to share; just asking you to think of it.)
If so, consider the prospect of the state saying that you can’t pass this trait on.
If not, well nevermind lol. There’s a bit more theory here, just in case it helps; specifically:
I do not have autism/ADHD/bipolar/dyslexia/dysphoria or a non-heterosexual orientation. If I woke up tomorrow with one of those, I would very badly want it reverted.
However, it seems obvious to me that if being a little schizoid made you a free thinker, able to see things most others can’t see, able to pursue good things that most others won’t pursue, then it does not count as “unambiguous net harm” and the government should have no say in whether you can pass it on. That’s not even close to the line of what the government should be allowed to prohibit.